


Innosince

by MageOfLight



Series: Innosince [1]
Category: Undertale
Genre: ACT 4 TAGS, Bondage, Creep!Swap Papyrus, Edging, First Time, Honey is a bag of dicks, LMAO, M/M, Mental Suffering, Multiple Orgasms, Non-Consensual Bondage, Pretending To Be Okay, Rape, Skeleheat, artificial heat, author has fun thinking up heat scents, blindfold, don't make Blue angry, ecto-genitels, non-con, serious abuse, tagging only the important ones, too many Sanses and Papyruses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-15
Updated: 2018-04-03
Packaged: 2019-02-02 22:22:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 23
Words: 36,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12735480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MageOfLight/pseuds/MageOfLight
Summary: The Sans of Underlust is always treated like the villain, even over some of his more violent counterparts. All he wants is to be treated fairly when he meets with his alternates, but it seems that will never happen until he gets stranded in the Undertale universe and one of his alternates decides to be kind.





	1. Act 1: Chapter 1: Innocence

**Author's Note:**

> this is not canon to the original Underlust, but something more of my own creation, using the concept of the Underlust universe. don't expect anything to really match with Underlust canon. haha

Whenever they all got together, the Sans who's moniker was 'Lust' knew the others watched him like a hawk. They knew where he came from, and that gave him a reputation. One he certainly didn't help by cracking dirty jokes and turning perfectly innocent statements into innuendos, but one entirely undeserved none-the-less. He was the Sans no one bothered to _actually_ talk to and get to know, assuming the worst of him. He'd get dirty looks from his counterparts, and he wasn't allowed anywhere near his brother's counterparts, as if the other Sanses and the occasional swap Papyrus were afraid he'd corrupt their 'innocent' little brothers.  
  
It wasn't fair, really, and in response, he never brought his own brother to any of these meetings. He didn't know how his Papyrus would react to being automatically treated like the hugest slut, just because of the way their universe did things. They'd assume, just like they had with him, that his baby brother was the 'village cycle', regardless of the fact that both of them were technically virgins. Oh sure, they went through some nasty heat cycles, but neither of them had gone to anyone else for help. They'd never even had sex. Papyrus was an exotic dancer and kept business as business even if he did have fun dancing. Sans, while his job was that of an escort, had never engaged in sexual activity. He was the person monsters went to for a break from sex, purely because he was good at helping people truly relax and unwind.  
  
But no. He couldn't get the benefit of the doubt from his counterparts. Even the most violent of alternate Sanses and Papyruses were trusted more than him... and that stung more than he'd ever, ever admit. He instead covered his hurt with jokes and did his best to ignore the sharp gazes and the refusal to have any of his brother's counterparts around when they knew he was coming.  
  
"BROTHER... ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO GO?" Papyrus' voice pulled him out of his thoughts, and Sans sighed.  
  
"have to. we need to compare notes, unfortunately. the anomaly has been quiet here, but that doesn't mean they don't have useful information," he replied, then paused at the dismayed look on his younger brother's face. "ah man... don't look at me like that, paps. i'll be fine."  
  
"NO YOU WON'T!" Papyrus started, then sighed, raking his phalanges over his skull. "You're never 'fine' after one of these trips. You always come back looking half dead and exhausted, Sans. If I didn't believe your need to go to these things, I'd tie you to a chair until the crossover broke again," the taller admitted, causing Sans to laugh softly, a bit of the tension bleeding from his frame. Man, his brother was so cool. "Are you sure you won't let me go with you this time? Maybe-"  
  
"no!" Sans interrupted swiftly, then backtracked slightly at the look on Papyrus' face. "no. it's not a good idea. and none of them ever bring their younger brothers along, anyway. i'm not sure it'd be safe to have someone who can't teleport try to navigate the rift." He was lying, but thankfully, he'd gotten pretty good at lying directly to his brother. He'd seen his brother's multiple counterparts briefly at those meetings, and knew many of them were good friends... but he refused to bring his brother along for his safety. "anyway, i need to get going. the rift is gonna open shortly," he said, smiling softly. "see you, bro. love you."  
  
Papyrus sighed. "I love you, too, Sans. Please, be careful," he said, then turned away. Sans let his smile drop.  
  
"i will, paps. i always am," he replied, then gathered his magic and teleported.

\--------------------------------------------

Navigating the rift was always a bit of a nightmare. The void between universes grabbed and pulled at him, but he pushed through until he could step out on the other side. Many of his alternates were already gathered, a regular old Sans convention squeezed into the living room with some Sanses perched comfortably in the laps of a few Swap Papyruses. He heard the tell-tale sound of pots and pans clashing and the general ruckus of a collection of Papyruses and Swap Sanses gathered in the kitchen and upstairs in this universe's Papyrus' bedroom. The single Papyrus (alpha?) that he could see was hustled out of the living room the moment he appeared. _Typical_... but it still hurt that he was treated like such a threat.  
  
He fought the urge to ball his hands into fists, forced a smile instead of the deep scowl that wanted to take over his face, and instead flopped down into a relaxed slump in the only free spot left... on the floor next to the coffee table. "so. which universe we in this time?" he asked, leaning up against the table.  
  
"Alpha 'verse," one of the Swap Papyruses (Honey, Lust noted absently, as opposed to Stretch) muttered, sounding not too thrilled. The Underfell Sans known as Cherry flicked his tail and patted Honey's arm, leaning back against his chest to mutter something to Honey that seemed to settle the taller skeleton. Sans tried to hide the hurt that settled deep in his soul at the less than warm welcome. He really should have been used to that by now...  
  
"cool. been a while since it dumped us out here," he replied, resting his chin on one hand and closing his eyes as if bored. "so, the anomaly's been pretty quiet in my universe. how's it been for everyone else?"  
  
"...what are you even doing here if the anomaly hasn't been bothering you?" one of the other Sanses muttered. Lust ignored him, pretending he hadn't heard, and soon enough, the conversation started up again, one of them getting up every so often to head off a Papyrus or Swap Sans, citing boring sciency stuff for keeping them out.  
  
By the time the conversation had finished for the day, it was late and a good chunk of the rifts had closed. Lust was stranded temporarily in the Alpha timeline and he groaned upon realizing. Where the heck was he going to stay until it opened again? "fuck me," he grumbled, sighing. He was so glad he was alone at the moment. It meant he could go find somewhere to hide out until the Underlust rift opened again without pushing himself on the Alpha brothers. Sure, he hated being alone, but it was better than the dark looks Comic would constantly be giving him as he made sure Lust was going nowhere near his brother.  
  
"...are you okay, uh... Lust?" Lust jumped letting out a startled squawk as he whirled around. It was one of the Swap Sanses. Blue? Yeah, he was pretty sure that was this one's moniker.  
  
"y-yeah, i'm fine. just, uh... a little frustrated. rift closed on me before i could get back," he replied nervously. If Stretch caught him talking to Blue... he was probably as good as dust. "uh... are you sure you should be talking to me? S-Stretch-"  
  
"I can talk to whomever I want! I'm a grown adult, and my brother doesn't control me!" Blue nearly snapped. Nearly. Lust wasn't sure any of the Swap Sanses (with the exception of those from the Swapfell universes) were capable of actually being mad. Not that he'd gotten much chance to observe them, what with the absolute ban against him interacting with any of the younger brothers. Lust let out a tiny, nervous chuckle, taking a step back when Blue came closer. "You really don't look okay, though. I mean, I've seen Papy when our rift closes and leaves us stranded for a day or two, and that's not the same look." Blue canted his head. "You look exhausted. Why don't you come spend the night with me and Papy in our universe?"  
  
Lust's eyes widened slightly at Blue's words. Not once had any of his own alternates seen through his facade. It just figured it would be one of his brother's alternates (for all that Blue was a Sans in looks, he was a Papyrus in personality). "I... thanks, but..." he started, only to let out a startled sound as Blue grabbed him by the wrist, humming happily as he dragged Lust behind him.  
  
It wasn't long at all before they made it to where Blue and Stretch's rift was located. Stretch took one look at Lust and started to stiffen up, eyes narrowing. "what's going on, bro?" Stretch asked, tone mock-calm. Lust fought back the quiet whimper that was trying to escape, doing his level best to look relaxed and calm.  
  
"Lust was stranded, so I invited him to stay with us for the night. Comic and Rus' house is too crowded for Lust to stay as well, and we do have that guest room, now," Blue replied, smiling brightly.  
  
"...I'm not sure this is such a good idea. Lust is-"  
  
"...perfectly fine staying out here on my own. a little snow isn't gonna hurt me, and i..." Lust started, only to trail off when his voice cracked slightly. Blue's hand was still curled warmly around his wrist and Stretch was eying the point of contact as if Lust was a snake latched onto his brother.  
  
"Nonsense! The cold may not be as big of a problem for us as it is for fleshy monsters, but you certainly aren't dressed for spending the night out in the snow, Lust!" Blue replied, sounding alarmed.  
  
"bro... I _really_ don't think this is such a good idea. you don't know anything about him," Stretch commented. Blue seemed surprised at that, squeezing Lust's wrist a little tighter in reaction, and Lust felt his soul ping with pain again, but this time, be it due to the friendly warmth from Blue, or too much hurt piled onto him, he broke, tears building in his sockets as he gently tugged himself free, glaring up at Stretch.  
  
"y'know what, no. i'm just gonna say it. i don't care that blue's here. he's an adult, just like all the rest of us. fuck you, stretch. fuck _all_ of you assholes! you treat me like a threat to your precious younger brothers, and none of you even _know_ me!" Lust snarled, hands flailing out in such a way that Blue had to step back, a look of surprise on his face that Lust tried not to notice, pushing back the feeling of guilt that pooled in his soul at almost accidentally striking the friendly monster.  
  
"you all get along with each other so well, and even the violent ones got a fucking chance! you let fucking _blackberry_ hang around your brother, and i've seen the scars he's left on pup! but no! i'm the threat just because i come from a world where the inhabitants are more open with sex than any other world! what, do you guys think i'm going to corrupt your precious baby brothers by talking to them?! i can't even _bring_ my papyrus! i won't put him through the shit you guys shove on my shoulders every single time i come for one of these meetings, because you know what?! IT FUCKING HURTS!" Lust stopped, panting heavily and tears flowing freely down his cheekbones, voided sockets staring blankly at the snow.  
  
"blue's the first fucking person who's said so much as a single kind thing to me here. he's the first fucking person to notice that i'm not-" Lust's words cut off as Blue wrapped him in a tight hug, stroking his skull soothingly.  
  
"Papy. He's coming back with us tonight," Blue stated firmly. Stretch nodded slowly, a shell-shocked look on his face. He then wordlessly gathered both Sanses close before opening the rift and pulling them through.  
  
It felt different, not controlling the jump himself, but Lust was too exhausted by his outburst to really fight anything at that point. He just wanted to lay down and sleep. He wanted to go home to his brother and cuddle into his chest and cry. Perhaps Papyrus was right. Perhaps getting intel on the anomaly wasn't worth this. Who cared if he knew how to stop it, right?  
  
"welp... here we are." Stretch's unenthusiastic mumble pulled Lust from his thoughts, and he pulled away from the swap brothers, looking around awkwardly with still voided sockets, trying to rub his tears away. He'd never been in any other universe without a ton of other alternates around. It was weird. He also didn't even have a way of contacting his brother to let him know that he was okay, much to his frustration. Logically, Lust knew Papyrus would assume he'd gotten stranded, but it didn't change the fact that he worried about his brother, same as any other Sans.  
  
"I'll go get the guest room ready! Papy, be nice," Blue chirped, then darted off and Lust laughed hollowly.  
  
"what are you laughing at?" Stretch quietly growled, and the amusement dropped from Lust's soul, slight smile falling away. Figured Stretch hadn't taken anything from his rant. Sanses were smart as hell but tended to be a bit thick-skulled at interpersonal shit. Only reason Lust was any good at it was because of the way his world was, and even then, he could be awkward and thick-skulled sometimes.  
  
"he's just... so precious," Lust started, then wilted under the look Stretch was giving him. "fuck you too, asshole. even if i wasn't under obvious threat of being dusted, i wouldn't fucking do anything to blue. he's cute, but i'm not into the innocent type. too much like my own brother," he said.  
  
Stretch scoffed. "right. like anyone from Underlust is in anyway innocent," he muttered. Lust stiffened, whirling to glare and snarl at Stretch, fury in his gaze.  
  
"this is _exactly_ why i never bring papyrus! you're all so prejudice against _anyone_ from my universe! what the fucking hell is wrong with having sex anyway?! it's a shit ton better than fucking murdering someone for looking at you wrong like i know blackberry has! pup fucking _bragged_ about it, and all you guys did was shrug it off because it's just the universe they come from!" Lust screamed, magic spilling off him in furious waves. "you can't even imagine that _maybe_ some of us in underlust have never even _had_ sex and just aren't interested, can you?!" He wasn't even angry for himself, not really. He knew Papyrus wanted to come along and make some new friends, but with the way he was treated, he knew Papyrus would be treated the same way, even though he was innocent of the perceived crimes of their world.  
  
Blue appeared a moment later, stepping between them. The sight of him, the only person to treat him kindly outside of his own universe, calmed his fury, magic dying down until his sockets were once again void of anything. "What did you do, Papy?" Blue demanded, clearly upset, but not angry. Yet, anyway. He knew for a fact that his hard-headed brother could be utterly tactless at times and hoped it was just something he'd said that came out wrong.  
  
"I..." Stretch started, but then Lust shook his head.  
  
"it doesn't matter... i just... i'm tired..." he muttered, not looking at either brother.  
  
"Okay, then. The room is ready. Come on," Blue said, doing his best to try and sooth the hurt monster. He didn't really know what to do, though. He took the other skeleton upstairs and showed him the room, where the purple-vested Sans flopped onto the bed without even seeing the pyjamas Blue had laid out for him and curled up on his side. Blue let it go, just as he'd let the language from earlier slide, and used a bit of blue magic to pull the covers over the other Sans, earning a weak, but grateful smile. "Good night, Lust. I hope you sleep well," he said.  
  
"...night, blue. thank you..." Lust returned, snuggling further into the bed. Blue smiled brightly, nodded, and gently shut the door.  
  
Once he was turned away, the Sans known as Blue scowled. He was steadily realizing that there was a long time of hurt piled on a monster that really didn't deserve it. He'd always wondered why the older brothers always made sure the younger brothers were kept away from the living room of whatever house they'd all piled into whenever Lust was around... just as he'd always wondered why they never saw Lust's brother. At first, Blue had thought that maybe Lust wasn't that great of a guy. Maybe he was like Blackberry when they'd first met him, the kind of guy that hurt his brother for fun.  
  
Now though? He was starting to see an entirely different picture. One where a guiltless monster was being hurt over and over again in a bid to 'protect' the 'innocent' younger brothers. It was, excuse his language, _utter bullshit_. All of them were adults. Most of them had even been through a number of heats, oft times helping each other out, even. Lust's entire being had screamed a pained loneliness and he clearly had no friends amongst his fellows, while everyone else had gotten close over the years. Hell, Comic, probably the most protective of them all due to the number of times he'd seen Rus die, didn't put up a fight when Rus and Edge started dating, and Edge's LOVE was at 6. It was ridiculous, and Blue was going to set things straight with his own brother at least.  
  
Sighing, the scarfed monster headed downstairs, spotting Papy slumped on the couch. "Papyrus," he started, making Papy jump and stare at him wide-eyed. Blue never called him by his full given name unless he was being super serious. He didn't even do it when Papy had been slacking off in his duties. "Why do you and the others do that to him? What in the multiverse did he do, brother?" Blue asked, pinning Papy with his gaze.  
  
"he's... he's a whore, bro. didn't want to expose you or any of the others to that. the last thing I want is for him to fuck you when he's been with who knows how many people. you and the others deserve better," Papy explained, and Blue, for the first time, understood how it felt to be utterly furious, though he was able to keep a lid on it and make himself look calm.  
  
"And what proof do you have that he's a... a whore? Did he tell you that outright?" Blue asked, and maybe he looked calm, but his voice had dipped into a lower register, something that happened with all Sanses, swapped or not, when they were boiling mad.  
  
"well, no, but the jokes he tells are proof enough of the kind of shit he- whoa!" A bone had exploded through the floor, bursting up through the couch cushion between Papy's legs. The tall skeleton stared at his furious little brother, eyelights tiny pinpricks as he took in his flaming cyan eyes and balled fists. "holy shit, Sans-"  
  
"So are you saying now that every gross joke _you_ tell should be used to judge _your_ character? _Maybe_ he built his jokes up based on where he comes from and what appeals to his audience. _Maybe_ he's a comedian who likes to see people laugh, _just like most of the rest of you_. Excuse my language, but you are _all being assholes_! He's right to not bring his brother if this is how you treat _him_. You all can't even see how hurt he is, can you? You're all so blinded by your assumptions that you can't or perhaps _won't_ feel how much pain he's in. His soul is practically screaming it, and yet you-" Blue cut himself off, throwing his hands dramatically into the air in his fury.  
  
"Did you know that when I first approached him, he was _scared?_ He's one of the most vulnerable and open monsters I've ever met, and it makes me so mad that you all treat him like garbage, just because he grew up in a world that views pleasure and sex as good things that no one is ashamed of. And he's right, you know? You trust _Blackberry_ more than him, and that's just... Is it because he's a younger brother? Because he's a huge jerk and I actually hate being around him. Even Fell can barely stand him, and Fell's a jerk, too," Blue sighed, fury simmering down to a low burn, though his eyes were still glowing with magic.  
  
"I bet you anything, that if you took the time to get to know Lust instead of treating him like the enemy, you'd probably get along with him. Heck, it's not like he could really 'corrupt' any of us anyway. We _are_ all adults and know perfectly well what sex is," he finished, then turned away. "I'm going to bed, Papyrus. Good night." With that, Blue tromped upstairs, pausing only to peek into the guest room to make sure he hadn't disturbed Lust in his fury before disappearing into his own room, leaving Papy to think on his brother's words.

\--------------------------------------------

The Papyrus that had taken the moniker of 'Stretch' (as ridiculous and unimaginative as the name was) stared after his brother as a sense of muted horror started filtering in, but still too shocked over the events of the evening to properly feel it yet. His attention turned to the door of the recently added guest room as he thought. Blue was right. He'd been completely unfair. Granted, he and his little brother were late to the party and had joined in after Lust had. He couldn't remember Lust ever saying anything about his own sexual exploits, though his jokes were, he'd thought, telling.  
  
But Blue was right in that respect, too. He made some admittedly disgustingly crude jokes as well, and fuck, both of the Sanses from Underfell universes made jokes about killing and he knew neither of them even had any LOVE. He'd let his own opinions of a monster he didn't know be influenced by the others, something the scientist in him screamed over now that he'd realized.  
  
Quietly, he walked upstairs and peeked into the guest room. All it took was a moment of focusing in on Lust to pick up what Blue had. The monster, who was already dead to the world and curled up under the covers in a tiny ball, was absolutely miserable. Loneliness and years of pain seemed to waft from his soul in waves, the aura of it palpable now that he'd removed the metaphorical blindfold. "...shit..." he muttered quietly, closing the door behind him and leaning against the wall. There really was no good way to apologize for his hand in hurting Lust. Would the other monster even accept an apology at this stage of the game?  
  
Well, no matter what, he decided that he was going to at least try. He'd give Lust the chance he deserved and get to know him. He'd also need to stop treating Blue like a babybones that needed protection... because Blue was right there, too. The younger brothers were all adults, capable of making their own choices.  
  
Stretch sighed, then pushed away from the wall, headed for his own room.


	2. Act 1: Chapter 2: Heat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey, Underecho, how the heck did you kudo me twice? O_O

Lust woke early the next morning, and for a moment, he struggled to figure out why he was awake when the artificial light of the underground hadn't even filtered into his room. The more awareness filtered in, though, the more he came to realize there was a low heat suffusing his bones and with a muted sense of dread, he realized he was starting his heat cycle. This wouldn't be a problem normally, but he was in an unfamiliar room, which reminded him that he'd been dragged to one of the Swap universes, and was located in the guest room of Stretch and Blue's home. The _last_ thing he needed was to pretty much prove Stretch right, even when all his taller alternate's assumptions about him were wrong.  
  
He needed to leave, and soon. Sighing, he cast his senses out, feeling for a rift, or the starts of one. There was nothing, and he let out a tiny, frustrated whine. "not good..." he muttered, chewing on the tip of one phalanx absently. What was he going to do? He couldn't take care of the problem here. The scent of his spent magic would be too strong. He needed to find somewhere safe and private... but he wasn't sure there was anywhere like that outside of this place. He knew the Royal Scientist in most if not all worlds was insanely camera happy. Some more or less than others, but he couldn't say what this universe's scientist was like. Would there be any place that was camera free?  
  
He couldn't answer that question, nor could he ask either of the brothers. But he also had to get out of here as fast as possible, before his heat scent kicked in.  
  
He must have spent more time in thought than he'd realized because he was jerked out of his thoughts by a knock on the door. He was warmer than previously, too and let out a quiet, dismayed groan. "Lust? It's time to get up!" Blue called through the door, and Lust flinched.  
  
"i, uh... i'm not feeling too great, blue," he called back, forcing his voice into a low rasp. It hurt a bit, but it'd be worth it if it bought him some time.  
  
There was silence on the other side of the door for a moment, and then Lust heard the shuffling of feet on the other side. "Okay, Lust. I'll bring something to eat for you in a little bit, okay?" he replied finally, and Lust sighed. There was no way to avoid interacting with Blue, he imagined. He just hoped he could suppress his heat scent long enough to get home.  
  
Sadly, staying in bed to complete the illusion of being 'sick' just made him sleepy. The bed was comfortable, and despite the irritating warmth that was slowly growing, Lust found himself dozing off, still exhausted from the events of yesterday.

\--------------------------------------------

Blue sighed softly as he turned away from Lust's temporary room. He honestly felt like his counterpart wasn't sick at all, but avoiding having to interact with Papy. Given the events from the previous night, it wasn't all that surprising. He didn't particularly wish to speak to his brother at that point in time, either. He'd probably say something he would regret later if he did.  
  
...still, he didn't have much choice. He could play along with Lust's claim, but he couldn't pretend to be sick as well, considering he wasn't exactly the type to let being unwell get him down, on the odd occasion he actually did get sick. If he played sick, Papy would know he was just trying to avoid him. Another sigh escaped the small skeleton before he tromped downstairs to start breakfast.  
  
Once it was mostly finished, he left the meat strips and veggies to keep warm on the stove, then headed upstairs to wake Papy. The banging on his door was maybe a little harder than normal, and he definitely could not keep up his usual chipper tone as he yelled through the locked door that breakfast was ready.  
  
Papy emerged surprisingly quickly before Blue could even make it half way down the hall. "Sans, wa-"  
  
"I don't really want to talk to you right now, Papyrus," Blue interrupted, and Papy flinched. "Lust is sick. I will be calling in today in order to look after him. Considering how you treated him last night, I doubt he'll want to see you. Eat and go to work." With that, Blue headed off back downstairs again.  
  
By the time Papy made it down, there was a plate with two fat breakfast wraps waiting for him on the table. Clearly recognising the fact that Blue was still angry at him, the tall skeleton ate silently, glancing up every couple minutes to look at the smaller. Once he was done, he put his plate in the sink, then turned to look at Blue again. "well, I'm off... see you later... love you, bro."  
  
Blue sighed. "I love you, too, brother," he replied. He couldn't just not say it. As angry as he was, he didn't particularly wish to hurt his brother, either. Papy shot him a relieved look, then was gone in a flash of orange magic. Now all Blue needed to do was call Alphys to let her know he couldn't come because he had a guest, and then he could take Lust's breakfast up and try to help him.

\--------------------------------------------

Lust was startled out of a light sleep by someone knocking on the door, but he was too sleepy to realize that was what woke him, so when the door opened, all he could do was aim a startled look at Blue, who'd frozen for a moment in the doorway with a strange look on his face.  
  
Blue then stepped in, closing the door behind him. A small burst of magic locked it behind him, and Blue silently walked over to the desk in the room, setting the tray of food he'd brought with him down before turning to Lust, still with that strange look on his face. "Lust," he started, tone even and almost soothing. "You lied before, when you said you weren't feeling well." It wasn't a question, but Blue didn't sound mad, either. Still, Lust felt a shiver of fear go down his spine, and it must have shown on his face because Blue stepped over and sat on the bed, petting Lust's skull to soothe him.  
  
Lust couldn't help the low whine that escaped him at the contact. His bones felt like they were on fire, and Blue's touch was like a soothing balm, leaving a pleasant tingle in the wake of gentle phalanges. And then he realized that his heat scent must have kicked in and Blue _knew_ , and this time, the sound that escaped him was one of terror. He pulled himself away from Blue, backing himself up into the corner where the headboard met the wall, curling into a ball. "i'm sorry, i'm sorry... please, don't tell stretch. i had no idea i was about to go into heat, i swear!" he cried, hiding his face in his knees. "is there anywhere i can go that's free of your royal scientist's cameras? i'll go take care of this and-"  
  
"Stars, Lust... does my brother scare you that much?" Blue asked, a gentleness in his voice that cut Lust's growing panic off as well as his words.  
  
"i just... maybe he might have finally been able to see me for who i actually am instead of... some nympho who can't get enough of sex... but now? how am i supposed to prove myself innocent when _this_ happens?" Lust mumbled, doing his best not to cry. "i've never even had sex before! i've always dealt with my heats on my own, and it's hard and it hurts, but i... i never wanted anyone..."  
  
"You've... never gotten help? Not even once?" Blue asked, shocked. "What about your brother?"  
  
"he's asexual. i've offered to help him through his heats, but he's... he _hates_ the thought of being touched like that. he even tried to help me once, but there was no point. because of his reluctance to even touch me while i was... uh... well, it made certain his touch did _nothing_ to help. my own hand was more effective," Lust muttered.  
  
Blue nodded slowly. It made sense. "So... you're a virgin, then?" he asked, and Lust nodded, shivering. "Everyone has been so wrong about you the whole time..." the cyan-eyed Sans murmured softly, and Lust had to bite back the urge to give in and break down. "May I help you this time, Lust?" he asked, and Lust jerked, raising his head to lock wide sockets on Blue.  
  
"you can't! stretch would dust me without a thought if he picked up my magic on you, and i can't just... i'd be leaving pap alone with no way for him to ever know what happened..." Lust stared at Blue, shivering with pent-up arousal and fear. The offer was... appealing, and had made his bones flare hotter at the thought of actually being assisted for once... but the fear was stronger. He couldn't...!  
  
"Shhhh... it's okay, Sans." Hearing his real name broke Lust from his thoughts and he jerked his gaze back to Blue, seeing nothing but kindness in his eyelights. "Papy is at work and isn't due back for hours. I got the day off to look after you, so we have plenty of time. Still, we don't have to do anything you don't want to," he said, reassuring.  
  
Lust whined, shaking his head. "m-my heats are... bad. the room'll smell like spent magic for days, blue... stretch'll know..."  
  
"So then we go somewhere else. You can teleport, right?" Lust nodded. "There's a place I know of that no one else does. It's deep in Waterfall, and I like to go there for privacy. It's next to a small pool, so we can wash off after, too. Or you can, if you really don't want me touching you." He paused, a grin slowly taking his face. "And besides, Lust... if anything were to happen... who says it'd be _me_ smelling like _you_?" he asked, winking before standing up. "Anyway, I'll give you some time alone to think about it. Me being so close probably isn't helping you keep a clear head. Though, regardless of what you chose, you should eat. And open the window a bit. Your scent is starting to build up in here pretty strongly." With that, Blue left the room and Lust sagged against the wall as soon as the door was shut.  
  
Shit, Blue was offering to help... and that sounded like he intended on topping, too. Not that Lust was against that, if his magic's reaction to the comment was anything to go by, an entrance already trying to form, though he resisted. The private location would be nice... and the fact that Blue offered to show him his space was soul-warming, to say the least. At least _someone_ other than his own Papyrus liked and trusted him in the multiverse...  
  
Sighing, he stood up, following Blue's advice. He first opened the window, letting the room air out and the cold Snowdin air soothe his heated bones, then turned to look at the food Blue had brought him. Truthfully, he wasn't all that hungry, his heat stealing his appetite... but he also knew he needed to eat to keep his strength up, and the food did look, and smell, amazing. He picked up one of the wraps filled with meat and veggies, then took a bite, humming as the flavours hit his conjured tongue. All at once, he was starving, and he soon found himself staring down at an empty plate while his soul pulsed in contentment. "well then..." he muttered, then chuckled to himself, returning to the bed.  
  
Blue returned ten minutes later, and Lust shifted nervously. "Have you decided?" he asked, and Lust nodded.  
  
"i... i dunno that i want you to... well... but the private location would be... really nice," he murmured, and Blue beamed.  
  
"Okay, then!" he chirped, then reached over and helped Lust back up, keeping a hold on his arm as he talked.  
  
A few minutes later, Lust teleported, taking both himself and Blue to a tunnel he actually knew. Then Blue was leading the way through a complicated network of mostly unexplored tunnels, some wide enough that they could walk side-by-side, others narrow and so small they had to crawl a bit to fit through. Eventually, they came into a wide cavern. The floor was a thick carpet of amazingly soft, springy moss that crawled up the walls and only ended when they reached a faintly steaming pool. There was a faint sulphuric smell to the water, and Lust stared in astonishment. "is that... a _hot spring_?" he asked.  
  
"Yup!" Blue chirped, grinning. "We'll both need to rinse off in that other pool we passed a ways back, but this one will wash away the sex smell. It always does," he added, grin shifting to a devious smirk.  
  
"...i changed my mind... you aren't innocent at all, are you?" Lust asked with a small, astonished laugh.  
  
"Nope," Blue practically purred, causing Lust to shiver, arousal spiking. Shit, that wasn't fair. How was he supposed to resist letting Blue touch him when he sounded like _that_. "Oh. You like it when I talk like that, huh?" he asked, and Lust's sockets widened. "Your scent spiked up. Pretty good indicator that I've done something right," he explained, grinning as he stepped closer, setting down the duffle bag he'd snagged from a little nook on the way into the cavern. "May I touch you, Lust? Or would you rather I leave?"  
  
Lust whined, conflicted. Oh, how he wanted Blue to touch him... but at the same time, his fear of Stretch finding out caused him to hold back. Blue couldn't protect him from a furious older brother with a bone to pick, could he? And even if he could, Stretch finding out meant the _rest_ of his alternates knowing, which would only cement their thoughts that he was just a whore.  
  
On the other hand, if Stretch did find out, he could always just stop going to the meetings... Papyrus would be happy if he stopped going... To hell with gathering more intel. He'd be safer at home with Pap.  
  
But on the _other_ other hand... if he let Blue have him, could he handle staying away? If this was a one-time, thing, though, he wasn't sure he could handle being around Blue anyway. He had to know Blue's intentions. "w-what do you want from me, blue? because, i... there's a _reason_ i've never, despite my job, been into one-night stands. especially when it comes to my heat." He didn't want to say the reason, though.  
  
Blue canted his head to the side slightly, pausing as he eyed Lust, apparently looking for something. He clearly found what he was looking for, but probably hoped not to find, as a strange look crossed his face. "You're... You're scared. And not just of Papy," he murmured, sounding sad. "You're scared of being abandoned, aren't you?"  
  
"...how...?"  
  
"How did I know?" Blue laughed softly. "I've always been really good at reading people. It... kinda comes with the territory of my other, secret job."  
  
"wait. wait, hold the phone," Lust uttered, startled. " _you're_ the Judge in this universe? i thought that was _always_ the older brother!"  
  
Blue laughed. "I'm actually older by like... an hour? Maybe two? I can't really remember that clearly, but... Papy and I are twins, but he always pulls the big brother card and treats me like a babybones. i was... a bit slow to develop, so it kind of worked out that way. Papy was always looking out for me, and i get why he's so protective, but... I'm not a babybones anymore, and I honestly hate being treated like one all the time. He's so thick-skulled that he has a hard time listening to people unless they snap on him first, so I haven't really managed to convince him that I'm an adult who doesn't need to be mother-henned all the time." Blue paused, sighing heavily. "It's part of the reason I hunted out this space for myself, so I could do certain adult things without Papy breathing down my neck. He even has a child-lock on my laptop... which I know how to remove and restore, mind you... but it's still annoying knowing he doesn't think of me as an adult, even though we're the same age."  
  
"shit... i'm sorry, blue," Lust uttered after a moment, not really knowing what to say.  
  
Blue laughed, waving it off. "I don't think Papy's aware that I know we're twins, and trying to tell him is just... Heck, he doesn't even know I'm interested in astronomy. Being in the Guard is kinda... my secondary dream. I enjoy the work, and I wanna protect people, but if we ever get out of the Underground, I really want to study the stars!"  
  
Lust couldn't help it. He started laughing softly. "stars, blue... i'd always thought you were more of a papyrus than a sans... but you... really are a sans, deep down."  
  
Blue let out a jokingly affronted huff. "If anyone's more a Papyrus than a Sans, it's Berry. He really is a mini clone of Alpha Papyrus! It's kinda scary, actually, come to think about it," he mused, and Lust let out a bark of a laugh, grinning widely as he flopped back into the moss. Blue smiled, relieved that Lust seemed to be calmer now. "Sans?" Lust startled at hearing his name again, and Blue smiled. "No matter what happens here, I'm not going to just abandon you. Now that I know the truth about what's been going on, I've got your back. No matter who it is, I'll stand by you. You don't deserve to be treated the way you have been all this time."  
  
"...you'd back me... even against stretch?" Lust asked, voice quiet and weak.  
  
"Especially against my brother! He's a scientist! He has no business letting other people's opinions of someone colour his opinion without getting the facts straight from the source!" Blue snapped, glaring off at the wall of the cavern. "I chewed him out last night because he'd decided that the dirty jokes you tend to tell are telling of your character, and we _all_ know that jokes are jokes. He tells some of the most disgustingly crude jokes sometimes, and everyone knows that he's not like that. Cherry and Red both tell jokes about violence and murder, and Cherry at the very least wouldn't hurt a fly!" Blue sighed, slumping.  
  
"If anyone's a threat when we go to those meetings, it's Blackberry. Sure, he's calmed down a lot, but... he's still dangerous. The only reason he hasn't hurt anyone is because Edge is watching his every move. Razz and Fell are jerks too, and even they've never made any veiled threats. But because Black's a younger brother, you all let your guard down about him."  
  
"...why haven't you mentioned this to stretch?" Lust asked quietly, sitting up and hugging his knees to his rib cage.  
  
"I have. He just doesn't listen well," Blue replied with a weak shrug. "And anyway, we all decided pretty quickly that it's best if Pup continues to bring him. It's not exactly fair to Edge, but... please excuse my language here... Black's a little shit. He's likely to get himself dusted if Pup isn't there to watch his back. So we put up with him." He paused, sighing again. "Most of us are aware of and remember the resets now, I think probably some side-effect of repeated universe hopping, so we know how hard it to lose a sibling. Even if Black is a huge jerk who's probably broken Pup beyond repair, we don't want Pup to go through losing his brother. He's not a bad guy, and losing Black when a reset probably wouldn't bring him back is just... it'd kill him."  
  
Lust was silent for a while before he nodded, though he didn't really know what to say.  
  
"Anyway! All this heavy talk is not what we came here for," Blue suddenly chimed, breaking the heavy atmosphere easily as he turned to look at Lust directly. "Sans, will you let me help you? I swear, I'm not going to abandon you."  
  
"...you're a sans... means you take promises really serious, right?"  
  
Blue laughed softly. "I hate making them. But I promise, Sans. I've got your back. I'm not gonna be kicked out of the living room anymore, either. You've been left alone to suffer long enough."  
  
"...okay."


	3. Act 1: Chapter 3: Sin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is late. i wanted to get it up before the end of the 17th, but, well... that didn't happen. orz
> 
> well, anyway... enjoy the sin and mind the tags. there are some new ones up there. :)

"...okay," Lust replied after a moment. As soon as the word left his mouth, Blue leaned in and kissed him, giving him time to back out before their teeth met with a gentle clack and a spark of magic. Lust moaned at the sensation, opening his mouth to let Blue dominate the kiss, which Blue took full advantage of. If Blue were honest with himself, Lust's heat scent had been driving him crazy. It was a good thing he had such excellent control of himself. Kissing the other skeleton felt really good to him, too. After a couple minutes, he broke the kiss, both of them panting heavily, though Lust clearly hadn't wanted it to end, as he'd tried to chase Blue's mouth for a moment, to which Blue had to gently hold him off with a hand to his sternum.  
  
Lust's eyelights were already blown and hazy, the purple of his magic faintly colouring the normally white eyelights. "Mweh heh, you look amazing right now, you know that, right?" Blue asked, rubbing Lust's sternum through his shirt. Lust could only moan breathily in response, which caused Blue to laugh softly again. "Tell me if I'm going too far, Lust. Okay?" he then asked, pulling his hand away from the clearly sensitive spot to give the other skeleton a chance to speak.  
  
"i... if i need you to stop, i've got a safe word," Lust responded, voice rasping faintly. Blue gave him an inquisitive look. "it's 'reset'." Lust chuckled at the look on Blue's face. "exactly. last thing we wanna be thinking about during this kinda thing is that."  
  
"Well, it'd be certain to dampen the mood a little, that's for sure," Blue replied, shaking his head. "Before we actually start, though, is there anything that's off limits?"  
  
"i... i don't... know? seriously, blue, i've never done this. if i don't like something, i'll stop you. promise," Lust replied, a little exasperated. Blue laughed, leaning in to kiss Lust again for a moment.  
  
"Sorry, sorry. Might be a bit much for your first time, but may I bind your arms and blindfold you?" he asked, still smiling.  
  
"w-what? why?" he asked, sockets widening again.  
  
Blue stroked Lust's bare arm gently to soothe the slightly larger skeleton. "We need to take care of your heat quickly, right? It's pretty common for us, that is, the 'younger' brothers to help each other with heats when we get stranded. Some of the others have pretty bad heats, and I've learned the fastest ways to help. It does require you to trust me, though. Can you do that?"  
  
"i... yes, i trust you," Lust responded, slow, but sure. Blue beamed, and Lust watched with interested confusion as Blue scrambled over to his bag, picked it up, then, much calmer, walked back to Lust and behind him.  
  
"I'm gonna start with the blindfold. Sit still, please, Sans," Blue said, and Lust once again shivered at hearing his name from an alternate.  
  
As asked, he sat still as Blue shuffled through his bag for a moment before pulling something out. Silky fabric brushed against the back of his skull, and he hummed softly, closing his sockets in preparation. "Is this okay?" Blue asked, and Lust nodded. The silky fabric seemed to glide over his skull, settling over his sockets before being tied securely at the back. "How's that. Not too tight?"  
  
"it's fine," Lust responded, his soul warming at Blue's care. It felt nice to be looked after by someone else.  
  
"Great! Now, I'm going to bind your arms," Blue warned, then helped him slip his vest and shirt off before gently guiding Lust's arms behind him to hold his own elbows in alternate hands. "Good, now just hold like that. I'm going to tie your arms together like this, then bind them to your spine so you can't move them. Please tell me if any of the ties are too tight. I want to immobilize you, not hurt you."  
  
Lust once again nodded, shivering at each touch of Blue's hands against him. The rope Blue pulled against him was soft and almost velvety against his bones, and he about purred at the feel of it. He thought he'd have been uncomfortable with being bound, but he found himself quickly relaxing into it. He supposed it helped that Blue was touching him the entire time. However, when Blue moved to bind his arms to his spine, he jerked and gasped before moaning. Fuck, that felt good... Blue chuckled, pausing in tying the cord to stroke his spine, causing Lust to whine as the sensation shot a burst of arousal through him. "Feels good?" Blue asked, and Lust whined again.  
  
Blue chuckled softly again, then leaned forward to press a gentle kiss to the back of Lust's skull before pulling back to finish tying off the cord. "There. All done." Blue's words were accompanied by gentle tugs at the cord, testing the bindings. "Everything comfortable? Nothing too tight?"  
  
"n-no. it's... perfect," Lust responded, pausing at the sound of his own voice. It was breathy and almost strained, higher than normal. "w-what now?"  
  
"Now? You're going to sit there and let me touch you," Blue replied, and Lust could hear the pleased smile in his voice and shivered. Being so physically vulnerable was strange, given he was used to being in control with his clients. Sure, if he felt threatened or Blue refused to back off if he used his safe word, he had his magic... but it really was the principle of the thing. He was bound and without his sight, and he'd allowed it to happen, was even comfortable with it. Blue clearly knew what he was doing. The way he was bound felt well practised, even. Nothing was loose and he couldn't move well, as he found when he pulled at his bonds to test them, but at the same time, nothing was too tight. There likely wouldn't even be any evidence of it on his bones when the binding was removed.  
  
After a moment, he nodded, and then he faintly sensed movement behind him before he heard Blue riffling through his bag again. Things clinked together, and Blue made a debating humming sound. "The key to breaking your heat quickly is to get you as wound up as possible. I think, starting with this should be good." A container popped open, and Lust heard a faint squishing sound, like... slime, maybe? The type he used to play with as a fidget toy when he was younger and helped out his father in the labs. He could hear the tell-tale sound of it squishing between Blue's metacarpals and phalanges and wondered what he was even doing. And then the slime was being pressed to his ribcage in sensitive locations, wrapped around his sternum, his clavicles... another was wrapped around his spine, and another... Lust whined when Blue reached into his pants and pressed the final piece against his sacrum, where the gel-like slime pressed into the holes. Each piece had several hard objects embedded in it, and he couldn't for the life of him figure out what it all was for.  
  
And then, suddenly, each object flared to life, delivering a low buzz of vibration through him that had him arching and crying out. Blue chuckled behind him, but he barely heard him, let alone had the mental power to acknowledge it. The vibrations stopped, and Lust slumped, panting. "Feel good?" Blue asked, and Lust whined again, nodding. It had only taken that much to get his magic to form, his cunt already dripping. He was suddenly glad that he'd worn his leather pants, even if they weren't exactly comfortable to sleep in. The mess would be easier to clean.  
  
"Good. Here, let's get your pants off you, yeah?" Blue asked, then helped Lust up onto his knees before undoing and sliding the offending garment down, only to pause at seeing his cunt. "Wow, that was fast," Blue commented, and Lust flushed, figuring his face was nearly glowing with it. "Not a bad thing, though. Just means I can do this sooner." Blue's comment was accompanied by a thumb brushing over his clit, and Lust moaned, tensing up. He hadn't been expecting that at all, and it felt _amazing_. After that, Blue was quick to help him lean forward until his ribs were pressing into the plush moss, and in turn pressing the vibrators harder against his bones. His pants were slid off his legs then, before Blue was digging in the bag again.  
  
"Objects have no intent, but they can be used to work a monster up without letting them get off. It sounds kinda cruel, but the resulting orgasm is utterly mind-blowing," Blue commented, and Lust's sockets widened behind his blindfold. Fuck, what had he signed himself up for here?  
  
Something that was soft on the outside with a hard core pressed against his cunt, and he gasped, feeling it rub up and down. The touch was lifeless, but he could feel Blue behind it, his phalanges moving in to rub at him every so often to keep up the slow build. And then it slid into him, Blue thumbing his clit as it did so. Once the object was hilted in him, he felt something securing it in place before Blue moved back. "This'll feel really good, but you might hate me a bit for it," he warned with a laugh, though nothing happened. All he could do was clench around the toy and whine. It felt good to be filled like that, but he wanted it to move.  
  
Eventually, he relaxed, just laying there breathing as Blue seemingly dug around in his bag for something else. That's when the vibrations kicked in again. They were way stronger than before, and Lust's body arched as he screamed. They started pulsing in a wave, no vibrator at the same intensity, and all he could to was writhe under it, helpless to the pleasure. It felt so good, but the intensity of it all nearly hurt. He needed so desperately to cum, but he couldn't. He couldn't hit that peak unless someone touched him with intent. Heck, he could probably have done it himself at this stage easily... but that was probably why Blue bound him... so that he couldn't.  
  
It was bordering on far too much, tears soaking his blindfold, when the vibrations suddenly slowed and stopped entirely, leaving Lust to lay there and take heavy, quick breaths that escaped him as tiny hiccuping sobs. "Are you okay, Lust?" The question didn't filter in the first time it was asked, but the second time, heavy with worry, managed to snap Lust out of his daze.  
  
"nn... y-yeah, i'm okay..." Lust responded after taking a moment to compose himself.  
  
"But?"  
  
"it felt really good... but... too much..." Lust meekly replied. "b-but... please, blue... I..."  
  
"Oh man, I really should have thought of that. If you've never been touched by another monster before, of course that'd be really intense," Blue groaned, sounding upset, though Lust didn't feel like the negative emotion was directed at him. "Don't worry, though. I'm not going to leave you hanging. Just give me a moment to rethink how I'm going to go about this. May I turn the vibrators back on at the lowest setting? We don't want the build-up to fade too much."  
  
"i... yes." Lust swallowed nervously, but Blue made a pleased sound, and the vibrators buzzed to life again, a low pulsing wave along his body that had him once again writhing helplessly. Even at the lowest setting, the sensation was intense, though not bordering on painful like before. Lust whined and moaned, wishing Blue would just touch him.  
  
As if responding to his thoughts, phalanges ghosted over his body, starting from his cervical vertebrae, trailing down his spine, before being drawn away just before hitting his pelvis. Lust whined again, arching in such a way that his cunt was basically offered up. Blue chuckled, ghosting his phalanges against Lust's tailbone. Lust's body seized at the sensation, a choked breathy scream escaping him. Blue jerked back in surprise. "...stars, did you just cum?" he asked, and Lust shook his head with a quiet, choked sob.  
  
"so close... please, blue... let me cum..." he whimpered, and Blue let out a shaky breath.  
  
"You do realise if I let you cum now, it might not break your heat..." Blue warned.  
  
"don't care, please, i need...!"  
  
"Okay. Easy, Sans, I've got you..." Blue murmured softly, and then his tongue was on Lust's tailbone, and Lust screamed, arching hard as the sensation dragged him over the edge into the best orgasm he'd ever had.  
  
He must have blacked out, because the next thing he was aware of, he was laying on his side, all the vibrators turned off, and the toy that had been buried in his cunt had been removed, allowing the magic to go formless again. The blindfold had also been removed, most likely to allow Blue to see when he came to. His arms were still bound behind him, though.  
  
"Welcome back. How are you feeling?" Blue asked, startling Lust and making him jerk. "Whoops, sorry. Didn't mean to scare you."  
  
"i-it's okay... i'm... hot. you were right... that didn't... break my heat..." Lust responded, dismayed. He should have listened.  
  
"That's okay! We have plenty of time. And if Papy gets home before us, I'll just tell him you were feeling better and I took you with me for a walk," Blue replied, laughing softly. "Now... I'm sure it won't take much to break your heat now... not after the way you reacted to being allowed to cum before, but... I would like to make sure. I'm going to put the blindfold back on, okay?" Lust nodded, so Blue helped Lust sit up, then replaced the cloth over his eyes. "I'm going to use the vibrators to build you back up again," he warned, and Lust tensed, this time prepared for the jolt of sensation. It didn't feel anywhere near as intense, though, and he frowned slightly.  
  
"Hm... that look on your face... not enough?" Lust turned his head to frown at Blue, but before he could say anything, Blue stroked his spine, wrenching a moan from him. "Not a surprise, really. You've had some time to cool down, and your heat isn't as bad now, right? You were already pretty oversensitive for that first run. Perhaps letting you cum was for the best after all since we can probably get a nice good buildup without hurting you now." Lust could once again hear Blue's grin in his voice, and the intent that radiated from him left the larger skeleton whining lowly.  
  
The vibrations kicked up a couple settings, going back to the pulsing wave, though this time, they seemed to be more random, buzzing high and low along him in a seemingly random pattern. He couldn't even hope to predict when and which vibrator would buzz higher, and it set him on edge, tensing and moaning uncontrollably. It felt good in very unsatisfying way, and he wasn't sure how long he could stand the teasing. Especially not with Blue adding the randomness of a light touch brushing against him every so often. His cunt had formed again and he could feel his slick dripping down his legs. He wanted to be filled and fucked into the ground. At that point, he didn't care if it was the toy or if Blue fucked him, but he _wanted_ it so desperately that it nearly hurt.  
  
Blue made a considering sound behind him, and then the toy was pressed to his entrance. "oh fuck, please... blue, please, fuck me..." Lust moaned, and Blue seemed to freeze behind him.  
  
"You... want me to?" he asked quietly, all the vibrators cutting out so that Lust could focus.  
  
He didn't need the consideration, though. The desire to have Blue fill him and fuck him hard was just as strong, if not stronger without the frustratingly pleasurable distraction. "yes, please, blue.... want you," he replied, pressing back against the toy still against him. It slipped easily inside, and he moaned at the sensation.  
  
"R-right... hold that thought for a minute," Blue purred, and then he strapped the toy in place before turning the vibrators back on once again. Lust arched, crying out at what was quickly becoming just a horrible tease. His squirming could only just barely shift the toy inside him and _it wasn't enough_. By the time Blue returned, Lust was begging incoherently, making Blue chuckle. the toy was unstrapped and thrust in and out of him a few times, making Lust cry out before it was pulled out completely. Blue's fingers were quick to replace it, thrusting in and out of him and scissoring his entrance open more, making Lust whine and plead.  
  
"Relax, I'm going to. I just need to make sure I'm not going to hurt you. Not to brag, but I'm quite a bit bigger than the toy." Lust moaned again at the thought, pressing back against the fingers buried inside him with a lewd slick sound. "Oh. I guess you like the thought of that, huh?" Lust nodded, and Blue laughed softly before pulling his fingers out. Lust whined again at the loss, but Blue was quick to act, pressing the tip of his conjured dick against Lust's entrance.  
  
"oh fuck... please..." Lust hissed, shifting his hips to press back. The stretch as he was breeched was intense, yet glorious, and he moaned loudly, clenching around Blue. This drew some cursing from the skeleton, which Lust found he liked quite a bit, so he did it again.  
  
"Fuck... stars, you're so tight..." Blue hissed, pressing forward slowly, inch by inch until he was fully hilted. Glancing at Lust's expression almost threw him over the edge right then and there. The slightly larger skeleton's mouth was parted, tiny breathy moans escaping him on every exhale, his browridges were furrowed in what Blue figured was concentration, but the most surprisingly attractive thing was the line of drool that had escaped the other's mouth. When Lust started to beg him to move, Blue snapped out of his daze and began to rock in and out. Lust was soon moaning and making incoherent sounds while rocking back against Blue as best he could with his bindings and the vibrators still going. Blue knew he wanted him to move faster and harder, but he kept up the slow rocking, his intent being to bring pleasure without letting Lust cum. Not yet, anyway.  
  
Oh, Blue knew he was being a horrible tease, but he needed to make sure that Lust's heat broke with this. They wouldn't have enough time for another round and still be able to clean up sufficiently. Grinning tightly, he upped the intensity of the vibrators again, and Lust screamed, arching as tears started leaking past the blindfold. Blue hummed, carefully pulling out and helped his heavily squirming partner upright. Lust was looking entirely wreaked, drool trailing down his jaw from his open mouth, tongue sticking out slightly past his teeth.  
  
It was almost surprising, just how responsive Lust was. The only monster Blue could think of that reacted similarly to how Lust was at that moment was Berry, who'd been so sheltered that he hadn't even known what sex was until his first heat hit and Blue along with Edge and Rus had needed to explain things to him, seeing as Honey likely would have been reluctant even in that situation. The smaller skeleton grinned at the thought as he carefully sat back and gently guided Lust so that he was kneeling over his lap. He then lined himself up, his cock nudging against Lust's entrance as he used his free hand to pull the bigger skeleton down.  
  
Lust moaned long and low as Blue slid into him again, his head thrown back as pleasure burned through him. He could feel that tight, hot coil in his soul that told him he was getting close, but Blue's Intent had not changed. Lust couldn't cum, but by the stars, did he want to. He felt like he was on fire. When Blue began to move in earnest, bucking up into him, Lust nearly screamed, trying to meet Blue's thrusts, but hands on his hips held him still.  
  
It seemed like forever before Blue's movements started to stutter, and the smaller skeleton bit out a curse. Lust barely heard it, completely incoherent and aching from over stimulation. "please, please, oh fuck, please," he whimpered brokenly. Blue cursed again and released Lust's hips only to pull him in for a searing kiss as Lust started enthusiastically meeting Blue's thrusts, making certain that his cock hit the back of his magic with every thrust.  
  
Blue's Intent suddenly changed, and Lust arched, breaking the kiss to scream as his pleasure spiked, overwhelming him and throwing him over the edge. It felt so good, better than the first orgasm. Blue came moments later, thrusting deep inside. The heat of his cum soothed the ache that had formed in his magic and only made the sensations burning through him better.

\--------------------------------------------

Lust slowly came to to the feeling of a gentle heat enveloping him. The strong scent of sulphur made his nasal aperture wrinkle as he cracked his sockets open and he blinked at finding himself partly submerged in the hot spring pool, his arms hanging limply at his sides. "nn...?" he mumbled, still feeling exhausted, but the internal warmth that marked his heat had gone sometime between passing out and waking.  
  
"Hey, glad to see you're back. How are you feeling?" Blue asked, momentarily tightening his grip as Lust squirmed slightly.  
  
"...tired..." the taller nearly whispered. Blue laughed softly.  
  
"I'm not surprised. I think I may have pushed you a bit too hard," he replied, sounding sheepish.  
  
"mm? maybe... but... felt good. thank you, blue..."  
  
"I'm glad I was able to help. Is your heat completely dealt with?" Blue asked, starting to gently run a cloth along Lust's body, carefully cleaning him of spent magic. Unfortunately, there was no way of erasing the evidence of Blue fucking Lust. He hadn't meant to cum inside, but in the heat of the moment, he hadn't been able to stop long enough to pull out, and Lust's magic had absorbed his own. It was a darn good thing he specifically didn't want kids at that point in time. If Lust had in any way desired that himself, a souling would have formed from that for sure.  
  
Lust hummed a sleepy affirmative, and Blue smiled. "Good to hear. I'm gonna finish getting you cleaned up, then we can get dressed and head home, okay?" Another sleepy affirmative and Blue continued cleaning Lust, then carefully picked the now sleeping skeleton up and carried him out of the cavern and to the other pool. Eyeing it with a grimace, Blue cradled his companion a little closer. "...I am so sorry," he murmured, then stepped down into the chilly water, shivering at the feel of it against his still warm bones.  
  
Lust jerked awake with a startled gasp, whining weakly. "nn, fuck, cold..."  
  
"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry. We need to rinse the hot spring water off, though," Blue murmured as soothingly as possible with his teeth chattering. "I'm gonna dunk us, and then we can get out and go back to the cavern, okay?" Lust whined at that, but nodded, pulling in a deep breath and holding it. Blue did the same, then dropped down, dunking them both to rinse off. He climbed out seconds later, shivering and trying not to lose his grip on Lust, who was shivering almost violently himself.  
  
The got back to the much warmer cavern in record time, Blue setting Lust down in the moss near the hot spring before cuddling close to him. "Sorry."  
  
"'s fine. needed to," Lust mumbled, shivering slowing and dying off as he cuddled up to Blue, closing his eyes. The warmth of the cavern and the plush moss under his body was so nice. So was feeling the gentle pulse of Blue's soul so close to his own.

\--------------------------------------------

Lust was woken once again to Blue shaking his shoulder gently. When he cracked his sockets open, Blue smiled gently at him. "Hey, I didn't really want to wake you, but we're nearly out of time. You need to get dressed so we can get back before Papy. Do you think you can teleport us back?"  
  
Lust grumbled over having to move but did as Blue wanted, pulling himself up and taking his clothing, noting that Blue was already dressed. When had the more energetic Sans gotten up? Well, he supposed it didn't matter as he pulled his shirt and vest on, then reached for his pants. The leather felt a little damp and he blinked, taking a better look. Had Blue... cleaned them? Considering the mess he'd made in them was gone, he had to say that yes, they'd been cleaned. He shot a grateful smile Blue's way as he pulled them on, then held out his arm for Blue. "i'm okay to teleport. let's hurry back," he said, and Blue grinned, taking his offered arm.  
  
In a flash of purple magic, they were back in the guest bedroom. Lust stumbled slightly and may have fallen if not for Blue's hold on his arm. "...okay, maybe not so okay," the taller breathed. He was still way more tired than he'd thought.  
  
"Well, at least you won't have to pretend too hard to be sick," Blue replied, helping Lust to the bed and making sure he was safely sitting before letting go and moving to sit at the desk. "So... I was thinking while you were sleeping," he started, and Lust cocked his head. "Lust as a moniker doesn't really suit you at all."  
  
"...uh...?" Lust blinked, wondering where Blue was getting with that. He'd known it didn't suit him. Most of the stupid nicknames were related to magic colour or some obvious aspect of the skeleton's appearance or personality. Even most of the ones that shared a nickname with their universe, like Fell, had it reflecting them. All except Lust, who no one had wanted to get to know and since he was the only skeleton to show up from an Underlust universe, they'd just called him Lust.  
  
Blue grinned at his obvious confusion. "So, I thought of a new nickname for you," he said, grin turning a little mischevious.  
  
"okay. what is it that you came up with?" Lust asked, then frowned. "well, whatever it is, good luck getting the others to use it..."  
  
"I have decided! From now on, your nickname is Sin! And getting the others to use it won't be a problem, as I'm gonna stick to you like glue whenever you're around!" Blue announced cheerfully, and Lust stared wide-eyed. Blue, clearly catching on, gentled, smiling softly. "I did say I wasn't going to abandon you, Sin," he murmured.  
  
The Sans formerly known as Lust found himself smiling as he mulled over Blue's words and his new moniker. While it wasn't a perfect fit, it was better than Lust ever had been. It felt... like a new beginning. "thanks, blue..." Sin returned, voice soft.  
  
The moment was broken by the sound of the front door opening and Stretch calling out a tentative, "I'm home," from downstairs. Sin's smile widened a bit as Blue glared at the door. "go on, blue. you can't stay mad at him forever," he said, and Blue sighed.  
  
"It's just so frustrating! He's a scientist, and he still...!" Blue hissed, and Sin reached out to pat him on the shoulder.  
  
"i know you're frustrated with him, blue, but..." he paused, sighing softly. "he's a papyrus. he might take it badly if you stay upset with him too long." Sin sat back, shrugging. "not that i can say for sure. i'm just as guilty of assuming with the two of you as he was with me. i always thought you were more a papyrus than a sans, but... you two seem more like a blend of personality traits than swapped versions."  
  
Blue sighed again, closing his eyes and releasing his frustrated anger. It wasn't good to hold onto an emotion like that anyway. "You're right. I'll go talk to him," he replied, standing up. "You should get into the pjs I left for you last night and rest. I'll go talk to Papy and make dinner." With that, Blue left the room, shutting the door softly behind him.


	4. Act 1: Chapter 4: Forgiveness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is a much shorter chapter. sorry about that.

As soon as he was out of the room, Blue let out a nearly silent sigh, bracing himself. Despite letting go of his anger, there was still the disappointment in his brother burning in his soul. That was the driving force behind his anger, and he really didn't want that to bubble up again. Still, he couldn't avoid Papy, so he'd go talk to him. He'd had all day too cool off (as well as burn off some excess energy), so he should be able to keep calm if Papy was still being stupid.  
  
"Welcome home, Papy! I hope you actually worked today and didn't shirk your duties!" Blue greeted, a tight smile curling up his teeth, though it shifted to a small frown as he took in how exhausted Papy looked. The magic scorching under his sockets seemed a little deeper and darker, and exhaustion was in every nearly limp bone in his brother's body.  
  
"hey, bro," he paused, yawning, "I was good. didn't even nap at my station today," he finished, voice dull.  
  
Blue canted his head, then sighed. "Well, it's clear that you could have used that nap. Go lay down, and I shall wake you for dinner," he said, then smiled again as Papy shot him a grateful look.  
  
However, he paused as he turned to head into the living room, looking back at Blue. "...you aren't mad at me...?"  
  
The question drew another sigh from Blue, but he shook his head. "No, I'm not angry anymore. Disappointed, yes, but not angry. Sin has forgiven you and so have I."  
  
"...Sin?" At Papy's confused expression, Blue burst into delighted giggles.  
  
"Yes! Lust wasn't really a very good nickname for him, all things considered! So I gave him a new one!"  
  
"...heh. gonna take some getting used to, but I'm not gonna argue against it."  
  
"Good! You'll help me to get the others to use it, won't you? And treat him like a person from now on and not some lust-crazed beast?" Blue asked, one browridge raised.  
  
"yeah. I wish I hadn't been such an asshole..." Papy sighed, slumping. "You two... really forgive me?"  
  
"Yes, brother. Now go get some rest so that I can start making supper! Oh! And Sin will be with us for a bit longer, I think. I don't want him traversing rifts before he's back up at a hundred percent," Blue said, then turned away and marched into the kitchen.  
  
Once he was alone in the kitchen, Blue let out a long, heavy breath, forcing himself to push the lingering negative emotions away. His brother had realized his wrong-doings and was repentant. And he wasn't lying when he'd said that he and Sin forgave Papy. After all, it truly wasn't easy for any Sans to stay mad at a Papyrus, and that went for normal, swapped, and Fell Sanses. The disappointment was harder to let go of, though. He'd always thought Papy was better than to let the prejudices of others cloud his own opinion of someone.  
  
Shaking his head, Blue started pulling out everything he needed for dinner, which he decided would be burritos that night, instead of regular tacos. Sin could probably use the heavier meal and Papy had looked so exhausted that Blue knew he needed it, too.  
  
As he cooked, Blue let his mind wander a bit. To Sin, and then to how Papy was going to react to likely picking up Blue's magic on him. There had been no real way to wash away his own magical signature from Sin once he'd absorbed his magic. It was pretty blatant what they'd been up to during the day. He just hoped Papy wouldn't take it the wrong way. At least he'd be here to head off any possibility of violence against his alternate. He'd promised to stand by him, and he was going to do so.  
  
Once he was done cooking, he made up two burritos for each of them, then headed out into the living room to wake Papy. "Brother, dinner is ready. It's time to get up," he said, shaking Papy's shoulder lightly. He then smiled when Papy opened his sockets and muzzily rubbed at the left with the heal of his hand.  
  
"okay... 'm up..." Papy muttered, sitting up on the couch before yawning widely. Blue chuckled good-naturedly as he stepped back.  
  
His expression morphed into a thoughtful one as an idea occurred to him. Papy was still half asleep... it would be a bit of a risk to do so, but sending him up to get Sin in that state... And hey, if a fight broke out, he was just downstairs. It would take seconds to get up and stop it. "Papy, could you go up and get Sin for me?"


	5. Act 1: Chapter 5: Acceptance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> another short one. orz

Stretch blinked, unsure if he'd heard his brother right. Blue wanted _him_ to go get their guest for dinner? But despite his confusion, he nodded. "yeah, sure. I can do that," he replied, then hauled himself off the couch, pausing to stretch, all his bones popping into place. Blue shuddered, then shook his head and turned to go back to the kitchen.  
  
Stretch took that as his cue to head upstairs. Once there, he knocked on the guestroom door. "L-... Sin? You awake?" he called through the door. There was no response, so he opened the door only to blink in surprise. The room was nearly frigid, and his eyes went to the window, which was open half way. Stretch shivered at the chill, then went over to close the window before turning to the bed where Sin was curled up under the covers, breathing softly in sleep.  
  
As he approached, though, he began to pick up a second magical signature on the skeleton. One he recognized. It was pretty hard to not pick up Blue's magic from him... but Blue hadn't smelled like Sin, which meant... If they'd done what he highly suspected, Blue had topped.  
  
Blue had to know Sin smelled of him, so why had he trusted Stretch to come up here unsupervised when Stretch had previously been such an asshole? Unless what Sin had hinted at the previous night, that he was a virgin, was true. But if so, why let that go now?  
  
It was then that he picked up on another, fainter scent. Something he hadn't originally noticed with how cold the room had been, and then with noticing Blue's magical signature. There was a faint scent of vanilla and strawberries clinging stubbornly to the area around the bed, a surprisingly gentle scent that made his soul pulse with a soft warmth. That was someone's heat scent... and it didn't belong to Blue, whom he knew smelled of fresh berries, and it certainly wasn't his own honeysuckle scent... Thus, logic pointed at the scent belonging to Sin. Blue had fucked Sin because he'd gone into heat, and it was clear that they'd been trying to hide that from him.  
  
Was Sin still in heat? Or was the scent left over from before getting fucked? Well, either way, he shoved it out of his mind for now. He'd been sent up here to get the sleeping skeleton, and he wouldn't risk Blue's fury again by being an asshole. He'd find out what actually happened, then make his judgement. He'd learned his lesson on jumping to conclusions last night.  
  
"hey, Sin. it's dinner time. Blue sent me to get you," Stretch called, reaching to shake Sin's shoulder.  
  
Sin groaned weakly, curling up tighter under the covers. Stretch blinked, then bit back a laugh. "c'mon, buddy. Blue's gonna come looking soon if you don't get up," he uttered, fighting back some ironic amusement. Is this what it was like trying to get him up most of the time? It was a wonder Blue had so much patience with him if that was the case. Sin groaned once more, but this time, he shifted and peaked his sockets out of the covers, only for his eyelights to gutter out at seeing him, his bones beginning to rattle softly. Stretch stepped back with his hands held up placatingly at the obvious sign of fear from the exhausted-looking skeleton. "hey, I'm not... gonna do anything. I just came up to get you for dinner," he murmured, tone soothing. Had Blue wanted him to see just how terrified of him Sin was? Because if anything, that was more than enough to show him just how much he'd wronged the other skeleton. Sin hadn't moved aside from gripping the sheets tighter, blackened sockets fixed on him in terror and Stretch felt his sins crawl down his back.  
  
"...I'm sorry. I did you wrong, and I can't take it back. I'd understand if you hated me, but... I'm gonna give you the chance you deserved from the start." Stretch paused, sighing and rubbing his skull. "can we start with some honesty here?" Sin's eyelights lit faintly, and he nodded slowly. "what you hinted at last night... you'd never had sex before? same with your bro, I'm guessing?"  
  
"...yeah, that's true," Sin practically whispered back, sitting up and leaning against the wall, the blanket still shielding all of him except the top half of his skull and the ends of his phalanges.  
  
Stretch sagged slightly under the weight of his guilt. "and you went into heat today?" Sin's whimper and eyelights guttering back out again spoke volumes. "I'm going to... make some guesses as to what happened. you don't have to say anything one way or another, but I'd like it if you informed me if I'm wrong about anything," he said, sighing again. "so, you went into heat... and then pretended to be sick so you wouldn't have to interact with anyone." He paused, watching Sin, who nodded so lightly he almost missed the movement. "and then Blue found out. judging by the weakness of your scent in here, he took you somewhere else so you could take care of it?" Another light nod.  
  
"this is where I don't want to just make assumptions, but I'm gonna keep guessing. Blue offered to help?"  
  
"...i wanted it, but i didn't... my heats are bad, and i'd never... gotten help before. i was scared, but blue reassured me... promised he wouldn't abandon me..." Sin's quiet voice was halted, and Stretch stayed quiet, listening. He didn't want to fuck up this time. "the one bad thing about sex being so open in my universe is that it doesn't really mean anything to most monsters. unless one is bonded or otherwise loves their partner, sex is just a physical thing. i'm... a little weird about it. i didn't want to be fucked and abandoned... especially during my heat... so i just... didn't indulge. as for pap, he's completely asexual. sex doesn't just not appeal to him, it disgusts him. it's too messy."  
  
Stretch felt a chill in his soul. This was a monster who was looking for real connections and he could feel that truth radiating from Sin. Blue was right. Sin was more open and vulnerable than anyone he'd ever met before, and he'd been ignoring that this entire time. "Sin... I'm so sorry..." he whispered, and Sin looked up at him in a sharp, startled movement, the faint sound of rattling bones ceasing. "may I touch you?"  
  
Sin's sockets narrowed in thoughtful suspicion, but he clearly decided to throw caution to the wind given the fact that Stretch had asked, because he nodded slowly, inching away from the wall. Stretch smiled weakly, moving to sit on the bed before pulling Sin into a hug and letting his soul project his feelings to Sin.  
  
Sin jerked in his grasp before letting go of the blanket and hugging Stretch back with a quiet sob. Stretch smiled tightly, rubbing Sin's back gently, focusing his intent on soothing the monster in his arms. Now that he knew the truth and had removed the metaphorical blindfold, he wasn't going to turn his back on Sin. Some of their more stubborn alternates would be harder to convince of Sin's innocence but certain others would become allies rather quickly, he was sure. Either way, he couldn't allow this tear-down to continue the way it was. He wasn't sure how the cruelty would effect Sin now that he had him and Blue backing him. If either of them couldn't make it for any reason and Sin was stuck going on his own... The thought sent a shudder down his spine and a surge of protectiveness pulsed in his soul that was clearly felt by Sin as he looked up with an expression of baffled gratefulness, eyelights bright in a way that Stretch had never seen before.  
  
The only thing Stretch could do in response to that was press a gentle kiss to Sin's forehead.

\--------------------------------------------

Blue stepped away from the guest bedroom door with a relieved smile. He'd taken a huge risk, but it had paid off and Sin had Papy on his side, too. He had two monsters to protect him at those meetings now, and Blue wouldn't have to be by his side constantly to keep Sin safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and with that, act 1 ends and i put this on pause until i have more written. there are technically three more chapters available, but this is a great spot to leave us off before the interlude that transitions to act 2. trust me, you don't want me to start posting act 2 yet. every chapter ends on a cliffhanger. lmao


	6. Interlude 1: Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...ah, screw it. have the interlude, guys. it's not too cliffhangery, sooooo...
> 
> meet the calm before the storm. after this, we hit the next act. enjoy.

Sin sighed as he stepped through the rift to his home universe. He'd spent almost an entire week with the swap brothers before the rift to get home was available, and it had been amazing in ways that he hadn't expected. Calm contentment pulsed in his soul at the thought of the brothers, his eyelights shifting momentarily to hearts before he shook it off and teleported home.  
  
"SANS!" Papyrus' startled, relieved cry made Sin jump before laughing softly and turning around to look at his brother, who stopped in his frantic rush forward to regard him curiously. "...you're okay," he nearly whispered, tone awed. "I've never seen you come back looking happy. What happened?"  
  
Sin laughed, eyelights brightening a bit more. "one of my alternates has a brain and compassion, that's what," he said with a grin, and Papyrus let out a relieved 'nyeh heh heh', making him grin wider. "you look okay, too. something good happen while i was gone?"  
  
"Indeed, brother! I got to meet and make friends with Mettaton!" Papyrus announced, brightening himself before flushing slightly. "I must admit he meets all my standards..."  
  
Sin chuckled, patting Papyrus on the shoulder. "good to know you've found someone you like. you've told him about your thing with sex, right?"  
  
"I have, and he's the same way! He even had his body made without the parts to engage in that particular activity!" Papyrus gushed, beaming happily. Sin smiled back, relieved that his little brother had found someone he could be happy with.  
  
"i'm glad, bro. you should invite him to dinner sometime," Sin suggested and Papyrus frowned.  
  
"Only if you swear to not make any sex-related jokes. _Not one sexual thing should cross your teeth if I invite him over, brother,"_ Papyrus replied, and Sin's sockets widened a bit at how serious Papyrus sounded. That sounded a bit more serious than just an aversion to sex. Something must have happened to Mettaton at some point.  
  
"yeah, okay. i promise. no sex-related conversation around mettaton," Sin swore, and Papyrus relaxed, smiling again.  
  
"GOOD! Now, not to change the subject, but it's dinner time! You arrived right on time!" Sin grinned at the enthusiasm and followed happily as Papyrus lead the way to the kitchen, another burst of contentment making his soul pulse. He was home.

\--------------------------------------------

Blue sighed as soon as Sin was gone. He'd really gotten used to having the other short skeleton around, and even though it was only a week, he'd gotten attached and thus already missed him. He knew Papy was feeling similarly when he glanced over at his brother and found a soft frown on his face. "Miss him already?" he asked. Papy nodded and Blue laughed softly. "Yeah, me too."  
  
"he was... a lot different than I expected. one of the cats was trying to flirt with him at Muffet's that one time we went together, and hell, he didn't even know I was watching and he still firmly rejected her advances. I guess... maybe I'd still had a couple doubts, but I certainly didn't after that," Papy admitted sheepishly.  
  
"Huh... he never said anything about that. Though I was wondering why he didn't want to go again," Blue murmured in reply, but then shook his head and straightened his spine. "Well, anyway! We'll see him at the next meeting, so there isn't any reason to make any sort of fuss!"  
  
"nyeh heh... yeah, you're right about that," Papy replied with a smile, patting his brother's shoulder. They'd just have to wait until the next meeting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _now_ the fic is officially on pause while i get more written. half way through chapter 9, the characters hijacked the story and now i've got a more solid plot... so i won't be posting any more of this until Act 2 is complete. i don't want to leave you guys hanging too long. haha
> 
> there'll probably be things written for the appendix, though. too many plot bunnies that just won't fit into the main story, but will work just fine as appendix drabbles... or perhaps longer than drabbles in the case of what i'm working on right now...


	7. Act 2: Chapter 1: Run

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> things take a turn.

Sin gasped, bolting up in bed for what felt like the millionth time. Another reset, but at least his brother and Mettaton would be okay now.  
  
The anomaly had been quiet for so long, only to return in the form of an adult human. At first, they were pretty nice, though repulsed by the constant advances of the monsters. They'd seemed relieved when they realized Sin's flirting had been joking and not serious (he'd stopped when he realized they were uncomfortable) and had been extra relieved when Papyrus and then later Mettaton had no interest in them aside from as a friend.  
  
They'd killed Asgore (completely by accident, seeing as he was ruthless) and then the first full reset had occurred. They weren't so nice the second time through. They killed everyone that dared hit on them. He, Papyrus, and Mettaton were spared.  
  
The third time through, they seemed to get curious and started accepting propositions, killing anyone that didn't satisfy them.  
  
The fourth (fifth, and many times after), they hit on Papyrus and killed him when he refused their advances. The same happened for Mettaton.  
  
When they found out that Papyrus and Mettaton had romantic feelings for each other, they made it their goal to fuck with the two of them, totally ignoring Sin warning them off.  
  
They had never done a full genocide run like he knew many of his alternates had suffered through, but this felt much worse. He didn't know if he could handle another run of having to witness Papyrus and Mettaton being destroyed at the human's whim. They needed to go. He needed a rift, and now.  
  
With that thought in mind, he cast his senses out. There was nothing, but he quickly resolved to keep looking while he got Papyrus and Mettaton to get ready to leave. He couldn't flee and leave them behind, after all. Papyrus was his brother and he'd come to really like Mettaton. The guy deserved to live somewhere where he'd be able to be happy. Where people would like him.  
  
He knew Papyrus would miss Undyne, but there was nothing for it. Taking Papyrus and Mettaton would be really pushing it and he couldn't protect either of them from his alternates. Not really. He'd have to hope Blue and Stretch would back him up.  
  
Sighing, he pulled himself out of bed and downstairs, surprising Papyrus. "Brother! You're up early!" Papyrus practically chirped before taking a good look at Sin. "...brother, what's wrong?" he asked with a concerned frown.  
  
Sin sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "i need to tell you something," he murmured. Papyrus stayed quiet, waiting. "i lied when i said that i couldn't take you with me to the meetings. my alternates take their brothers all the time. it's just, the way they treated me, i knew you'd be treated the same, and if it hurt _me_ as bad as it did, then it'd be worse for you. you'd have been an outcast, stuck sitting with me on the floor because they wouldn't let you be with the other younger brothers," Sin paused, drawing in a deep, steadying breath while Papyrus just kept waiting.  
  
"but things have changed. there's a human who's done... horrible things before resetting to a point this morning. they've hurt you, and they've hurt mettaton... so very badly. i can't handle seeing that again, bro... so i've decided, the next rift that opens, i'm taking you and mettaton with me, and we aren't coming back. honey took in cherry and fell, so i'm hoping stretch and blue will do the same for us."  
  
"What? But... what about Undyne and Alphys?" Papyrus asked, frowning. He didn't even question everything else, understanding why his brother had lied.  
  
"...i can't. it'll be enough of a strain to bring mettaton along with us. i'm positive that without you and mettaton to torture, that blasted human will just get bored. the two of you have been their only focus for a long time now. they even started ignoring me. i'm sorry... this is the only solution i have. i can't bring everyone with us. if i could, i'd clear most of snowdin as well as Undyne and Alphys out to another universe in a soul beat," Sin replied, sagging. He hated this.  
  
Papyrus sighed softly, hugging Sin. "I understand, Sans. I will call Metta and get him to pack up everything he wants to keep and then come here," he replied, stroking Sin's skull soothingly. Sin sighed, this time in relief, and hugged Papyrus back.  
  
"don't do what i was doing. dress conservatively," Sin warned, chuckling softly.  
  
"Right then. No work clothes," Papyrus replied, grinning as he pulled back, pulling out his cellphone to call his partner.

\--------------------------------------------

The three of them stood out in the middle of Snowdin forest, close to the ruins, waiting. A rift had started opening only a couple hours after Mettaton had arrived, and with a heavy amount of relief, Sin had teleported them to it to wait for it to finish opening. "now, i'm gonna warn you two that i have no idea where this leads. if the air feels heavy and oppressive, it's a fell or swapfell universe. you two _have_ to stick close to me. the monsters in those universes are exp hungry and will go after anyone with base lv as easy exp," Sin said, and the pair of them nodded, though Mettaton still looked super confused about all this. Papyrus at least had been talked to many a time before about the alternate universe stuff.  
  
"We understand, brother," Papyrus replied, putting a comforting hand on Sin's shoulder.  
  
"oh, and one more thing. given there are a ton of alternate sanses and papyruses, we all go by nicknames. mine is 'sin', though a bunch of them will be calling me 'lust' until stretch and blue get that corrected."  
  
"'Lust'?" Papyrus asked, making a face. "Who thought that unfitting moniker was a good idea?"  
  
Sin laughed with a soft grin. "kinda got nicknamed after the name they gave this universe. lucky me wound up being the only sans to show up from an 'underlust' universe, so that happened. well, that's soon to be in the past," he said, smiling, and then smirking. "to head off any potentially nasty nicknames before stretch and blue can stop it, i'm nicknaming you myself, bro. from now on, you're 'pink'."  
  
"Pink? Why Pink?" Papyrus asked, sounding a little dismayed.  
  
"don't think anything of it, bro. lots of us are actually nicknamed for the colour of our magic. 'red', 'blue', 'honey', 'cherry', 'razzberry'... black's nickname is short for blackberry, which is a dark red-purple colour..."  
  
"Hm... well that makes sense, I suppose..." Papyrus replied, still sounding like he wasn't so fond of it.  
  
"Well, I think it suits you pretty well, Darling," Mettaton chipped in. Papyrus flushed, making Sin chuckle.  
  
"Alright! Pink it is, then!" the newly dubbed Pink responded after a moment of flustered stammering. Sin smiled widely, then turned to the rift, invisible to everyone but him.  
  
"it's ready. hold on tight to me, both of you. whatever you do, do not let go until i say so. i don't want to lose either of you," Sin told them. He suddenly found himself with two pairs of arms wrapped tightly around his. Nodding to both of them and getting two nods in return, he gathered his magic and 'pulled' at the rift.  
  
They came through in a matching forest, not far from the clearing they'd started from in their own universe, though the air seemed more charged than their own universe had been. It wasn't heavy as a Fell or Swapfell universe would have been, but the atmosphere seemed tense and heavy with magic. There was a shout, and Sin turned to look at his brother, then at Mettaton. "...stay here. i'll check it out," he murmured to them, then shook off their grips on his arms.  
  
When he got to the area he'd heard the shout from, he found Stretch and Blue facing off against a very irate Fell-verse Papyrus. It was impossible to tell whether it was Edge or Fell at that moment, considering the Papyrus' Sans appeared to be missing. Sin frowned, stepping into the clearing and making himself known. His first thought was to distract the Underfell Papyrus. "where's your sans?" he asked, looking at the tall, edgy monster. That seemed to take the wind out of the Papyrus' sails as the monster slumped. Edge then. But where was Red?  
  
"...I DON'T KNOW. HE WAS WITH ME WHEN WE CAME THROUGH THE RIFT, BUT... I'D TAKEN A BAD BLOW FROM THE HUMAN, AND I'M NOT SURE WHERE HE WENT AFTER WE GOT HERE," Edge replied, not even being snarky with Sin. Granted, he'd rarely seen Sin, and might not have entirely recognized him as being a Lust-verse monster considering he'd switched the crop top and eye-searing vest for a more conservative black t-shirt and purple hoodie-jacket combo.  
  
"okay. we'll figure out what happened to red. stretch, blue, could you two go get my brother and mettaton for me? we need to get edge to the house. i'm not liking the way his eyelights are hazing," he requested, looking at his friends.  
  
"you... actually brought your brother, Sin?" Stretch asked, sockets widened. "and why Mettaton? no, nevermind. we can talk later," he added, then turned and darted off the way Sin had come, following his footprints in the snow. Blue looked torn for a moment before ultimately deciding to follow after Stretch as Sin had asked.  
  
Sin vaguely heard the sound of voices as he approached Edge carefully. "you said you'd taken a bad blow from the human? red's not exactly a violent monster, but do you think he may have gone back to fight the human?" he asked, speaking gently in an attempt to not alarm Edge. He failed as Edge's sockets widened in apparent horror at the thought.  
  
"HE COULDN'T HAVE. WE BOTH KNOW HOW ATTEMPTS AT FIGHTING THE HUMAN GO," Edge replied, seemingly trying to reassure himself as well as denying that notion to Sin and Sin nodded.  
  
"well, you know him best. where do you think he may have gone?" he asked, and Edge's brow ridge furrowed in thought only for him to wince as the movement obviously pulled something, and this time, it was Sin's sockets that widened. "are you okay?!"  
  
Edge tensed, but after a moment, he relaxed and shook his skull minutely. "...NO. THE HUMAN ATTACKED ME FROM BEHIND. I'M NOT SURE OF THE DAMAGE, JUST THAT MY BROTHER LOOKED HORRIFIED. NEITHER OF US ARE ADEPT AT HEALING THOUGH, SO PERHAPS HE WENT TO GET SOME HELP."  
  
"...may i see it?" Sin asked. "with my job, i've had a lot of practice with healing," he added when it looked like Edge was about to shy away. After a moment, the taller monster turned around and sunk to his knees in the snow, allowing Sin to see that his skull was nearly caved in in the back. Marrow had soaked heavily into the scarf and Sin cursed softly. Red must have been in a highly emotional state to have just left Edge here alone in the woods. "fuck, it's bad..." he murmured, letting his hands be encased in green. He just hoped his magic would be strong enough for this. The most he'd ever healed was torn muscle and flesh. He'd never had to heal caved in bone before. "this might burn a bit," he added, and Edge tensed in preparation.  
  
"I'LL BE FINE. DO WHAT YOU NEED TO," Edge responded, and Sin smiled, then let his hands cup around the wound, focusing his intent on knitting the bone back together. It would likely leave a new scar, but not as bad as it would have been had the wound been left to heal on its own.  
  
Eventually, his magic guttered out, eyelights hazing out slightly as he toppled backwards into two pairs of waiting arms. He'd used too much magic (too much being wasted due to his abysmal stats and not being able to rely on the power of the Judge because he was healing, not fighting) but he was sure he'd successfully patched Edge up. People were speaking, but he was too tired to focus on it and just allowed himself to fall asleep, trusting that the owners of the arms holding him would protect him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to those waiting on the Gyftmas fics, i'm sorry they are running late. they will all be finished, but i injured my left wrist, and i couldn't write for a bit. it's healing, but i don't want to strain it. writing is going slowly. i have chapters of this fic prewritten all the way up to new years eve, though. :)


	8. Act 2: Chapter 2: New

Edge tensed in preparation of further pain at the other skeleton's words, but it was unneeded. Soothing warmth flowed from Sin's hands, soaking into the bone at the back of his head. The air around them soon became charged with green magic as the apparently nearly universal 'Sans' problem of inefficient magic use caused much of it to spill off around them. Edge could tell from the feel of the magic that this skeleton was exceptionally kind. It was perhaps his secondary soul trait rather than the usual Justice trait of most Sanses and Swap Papyruses.  
  
When Stretch and Blue returned with two other monsters (likely Sin's Papyrus and the previously mentioned Mettaton), he didn't dare move to turn and look, as much as he wanted to. He did open his sockets and cast his eyelights in their direction though. He waited as the three skeletons fussed, Stretch and Blue moving from his line of sight but neither of them made a move to try and stop Sin, just waiting while the small, purple-garbed skeleton worked.  
  
When the magic finally cut out, Edge reached up and gingerly touched the edges of the wound, but it didn't really hurt, only the dull pain of a skull injury-related headache remaining. His fingers came away tacky with mostly-dried marrow, but it felt like the injury was nearly completely healed. That checked on, he finally turned to look at the quintet behind him, noting how Stretch and Blue were both gently supporting the exhausted skeleton while the younger brother and a robot that looked like he might have been an alternate Mettaton with a nerd filter hovered close by, the other Papyrus' hand being held and stroked in a soothing manner by the robot.  
  
Edge opened his mouth, intending on addressing the lot of them, but before he could say anything, there was a crack of magic and Red appeared with Comic and Rus in tow, landing not far from where he'd been left originally, though their backs were to the group. "boss!" Red called frantically.  
  
"OVER HERE, BROTHER," Edge called back, and the three newcomers whipped around, then darted over frantically. "I'M OKAY NOW. SIN HELPED ME," he told them, smiling slightly at the clear worry displayed.  
  
"...sin?" Red and Comic both asked, though Rus simply canted his head, having never met the monster in question. Three pairs of eyelights then shifted to the group that was now off to the side of them and Red's sockets narrowed, though Comic just appeared thoughtful.  
  
"Yes, Sin," Blue replied before Red could say anything. "Don't you dare freak out about him being anywhere near your brother when Sin was the one who healed him," he added, meeting Red's narrowed gaze with a look of challenge.  
  
"WHY WOULD HE FREAK OUT?" Edge asked, now curious about the relationship between this monster he was sure he'd never met before and the other elder brothers. Was this the monster that frequently had the elder brothers shooing the younger brothers from the living room? But why, when the monster was so kind? Edge absolutely hated not understanding things, and he seriously disliked the way his brother was reacting to Sin's presence.  
  
"why the hell are you calling him sin? that's clearly lust. and stretch, i thought you fucking knew better than to let him anywhere near blue," Red growled lowly, and Edge narrowed his sockets.  
  
"BROTHER. I'M SURE YOU CAN FEEL THE MAGIC IN THE AIR," Edge started, cutting off Stretch before he could say anything as Edge was positive that this was about to devolve into an actual fight between monsters who were supposed to be friends. Red made a hum of acknowledgement in response, though he didn't look towards Edge, gaze not leaving the trio containing Sin and the swap brothers. "THAT'S SIN'S. THE MAGIC HE USED TO HEAL ME. BACK. OFF," Edge growled, and Red startled, finally looking away and towards Edge.  
  
"but-," Red uttered, and Edge cut him off with a held up hand.  
  
"BROTHER, YOU ARE LITERALLY THE ONLY ONE WHO IS NOT THINKING CRITICALLY RIGHT NOW. I DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE AGAINST HIM, BUT AT LEAST FOR NOW, YOU ARE GOING TO PUT IT ASIDE, CONSIDERING HE SELFLESSLY EXHAUSTED HIMSELF FOR MY SAKE," Edge growled. He then turned to Comic and Rus, noting that Comic's stance had relaxed completely, though Edge could swear he looked almost ashamed... That was something to think about later, once they were out of the cold and Sin was resting somewhere safe. "I AM GOING TO ASSUME THIS IS YOUR UNIVERSE?" Comic nodded.  
  
"yeah. you guys are the first ones here, too," he replied, then shook his head. "right then! red, you take edge back. pap and, er... other papyrus and mettaton? you three are with me. stretch, you take blue and... sin? that what we're calling him now? ah, nevermind that. we're going back to my place. no sense hanging out here in the middle of the woods getting chilled to the bone," Comic said, clearly taking charge of the situation. Rus, Edge, and the other Papyrus all groaned at the pun, but soon everyone was gathered with their respective teleporting skeleton. Edge heard three cracks of magic, and then they were all in Comic's living room, Stretch already getting Sin settled on the couch to rest.  
  
"IS HE ALRIGHT?" Edge asked, concerned. There had been a lot of wasted magic charging the air back in that clearing.  
  
"yeah, he seems to be. he's just sleeping," Stretch replied as he gently laid the blanket from the back of the couch over the limp skeleton. Blue was holding his hand, and Edge glanced over at the other skeletons in the room, giving them a moment as he decided to monitor the rest of the room's interactions. Something was up, and Edge did not like it one bit.  
  
"SO. BROTHER, COMIC. THE TWO OF YOU ARE GOING TO EXPLAIN ABOUT SIN TO BOTH MYSELF AND RUS. WE'LL TALK IN RUS' ROOM?" Edge glanced at his slightly smaller lover, who shot him a bright, encouraging smile and a nod. Edge smiled briefly back at him before turning back to the two Sanses with a frown. "IF EITHER OF YOU TRY TO DODGE THIS, I WILL HUNT THE ABSCONDER DOWN AND MAKE YOU REGRET IT," he threatened, then turned to the stairs.  
  
"Wait," Blue suddenly called from the couch. Stretch had moved into his spot, gently cradling Sin's hand and shooting a look of encouragement Blue's way as Edge turned to look back at them. "I'm going too. I would honestly like to hear what they are going to say... and then I am going to give the lot of you some very clear facts," the little skeleton said with a serious look very uncharacteristic with the usual persona Blue displayed to the elder brothers on his face. There was no smile present at all, which weirded Edge out a bit, but he still nodded tightly, waiting as Blue crossed the room to them before turning and heading upstairs, pleased when he heard four sets of footsteps following him up.  
  
Once all five of them were in Rus' room, Edge turned and leaned against the desk while Rus sat on the bed and motioned for Blue to join him. This left Red and a still thoughtful-looking Comic standing in the center of the room. Red was scowling deeply, looking like he was about to go on a tirade any second, but Comic's hand on his shoulder seemed to reel him back in, and he started grumbling under his breath. "So?" Blue's voice startled everyone in the room, considering the fact that it wasn't in his usual chipper tones. The way it came out made him sound like he was barely restraining pure fury, and Edge cast a glance at the smaller monster. Of course, he was well aware of the fact that Blue was nowhere near innocent like he tended to pretend to be, but this was new even to him. Blue only got angry when the Human was fucking with Stretch. Certainly, he got frustrated, yes, but nothing like this.  
  
Comic made a sound like clearing his throat despite not having one currently. He looked uncomfortable, and Edge raised a brow ridge. He couldn't remember ever being able to read Comic like this. The monster was usually closed off and hiding always behind a smile. _Something_ about all this had thrown him off his game, and Edge didn't think it was Blue being angry. It had something to do with the sleeping monster downstairs. "i'm... starting to think a huge mistake has been made..."  
  
"NO KIDDING?!" Blue's raised, sarcastic voice made them all jump, and this time, everyone was staring blatantly at him in shock. Blue seemed utterly done with everything though as he stood up, pacing and flailing his hands around angrily as he talked, clearly not able to wait any longer. "Certainly, _a mistake_ is what has happened. It was a _mistake_ to act like Sin is the enemy. It was a _mistake_ to hurt him so deeply that when I approached him on my own he was _utterly terrified_ to speak to me! _It was a mistake_ to ostracise the sweetest, kindest monster out of all of you and act like he was just a filthy whore who can't keep it in his pants when all he wanted was a _friend!_ Here's some information for you! _He was a virgin until I took him myself because he couldn't handle the thought of just fucking someone and being abandoned!_ And the _only_ reason he allowed me to touch him even _after_ I promised I wouldn't abandon him was because he was in heat and probably couldn't resist any longer!"  
  
"...fuck," Comic hissed quietly, taking a step back when Blue aimed his furious pin-prick eyelights at him.  
  
Red, however, didn't seem to get it, because he scoffed. "sure, okay. he fuckin' _suckered_ ya, blue. i've met monsters like him- ow, fuck, what the hell?!" Red jerked back as a bone shot through his shoulder, not doing any physical damage, but shaving off a few decimal points of his HP. Edge could only watch on in shock as cyan bones danced around Blue's outstretched hand.  
  
"That is _enough_ bad talking him, Red. You don't even _know_ him! When did you take the time, huh? _None_ of you did! Because he came from an Underlust universe, you automatically thought the worst of him and didn't bother taking the time to actually see if you were right! STOP BLINDING YOURSELF, AND GO OUT THERE AND TAKE A BETTER LOOK, ASSHOLE, BECAUSE THAT MONSTER DOWN THERE IS A STARS DAMNED OPEN BOOK!" Blue snarled, ending in a loud, angry shout.  
  
"BLUE. I THINK I GET THE PICTURE HERE, BUT YOU NEED TO CALM DOWN BEFORE YOU HURT RED FURTHER," Rus uttered in the most soothing tone he could muster. Blue's eyelights guttered momentarily as he seemed to realize he'd actually hurt Red, who was holding his aching shoulder with widened sockets trained on Blue in shock.  
  
"HM. I THINK IN THIS CASE, MY IDIOT BROTHER PERHAPS DESERVED IT... AND NEEDED TO HAVE SOME SENSE KNOCKED INTO HIM, CONSIDERING ALL IT TOOK WAS FEELING HIS MAGIC TO KNOW THAT SIN IS A KIND MONSTER. I SINCERELY DOUBT A MONSTER LIKE HIM WOULD WANT TO 'SUCKER' ANYONE," Edge said, voice surprisingly calm for a monster who was starting to see his sibling in a different light. Edge had always thought his brother to be exceptionally kind for someone hailing from a fell-verse. Someone who refused to gain LOVE and who granted mercy to those who perhaps didn't deserve it. But where was that mercy when it came to Sin? Where was the monster he thought he'd known? Edge didn't know and it was, quite frankly, disturbing.  
  
On the same note, he was shocked over just how brutal Blue was being at the injustice of the situation. Edge found himself reassessing the smaller monster and found himself suitably impressed. This was a monster one wanted on their side. Someone unflinchingly loyal who would protect his friends to his last breath. Edge's teeth curled up into a smile as he patted Blue on the shoulder. "SIN IS LUCKY TO HAVE YOU ON HIS SIDE, BLUE," he stated, then turned to Red. "COME, BROTHER. WE HAVE MUCH TO TALK ABOUT," he growled lowly. He might have involved Comic in this conversation had the monster not been looking ill with the bomb Blue had dropped on them all. Comic would surely be reevaluating how he treated Sin without a stern talking to... though Rus looked like he wanted to give his brother a... much more gentle piece of his mind as well.  
  
Before Edge could step towards Red, however, the monster gave a vicious snarl and teleported away. Edge breathed a low curse, glancing around the room. "I AM SORRY, LOVE, BUT I NEED TO BORROW YOUR BROTHER," he stated, then turned to Comic. "I AM WELL AWARE THAT YOU KNOW WHERE HE WOULD GO HERE. TAKE ME TO MY BROTHER, THEN GET BACK HERE. I WILL DEAL WITH THIS."  
  
"i...yeah, okay. he shouldn't be alone right now, anyway..." Comic murmured, holding out his arm for Edge before looking at the still seething, but calmer Blue. "i fucked up. this is all partly my fault, and i'll do what i can to make it up to him... just... gimme a bit," he nearly whispered. The words seemed to settle Blue's anger more than realizing he'd hurt Red did, as his eyelights returned to near their normal size as he nodded.  
  
With that, Edge took hold of Comic's arm, then they both vanished in a flash of teleportation.


	9. Act 2: Chapter 3: Frustration

Blue sighed after the two monsters vanished, plopping down at Rus' desk chair. "I'm sorry, Rus. I didn't mean to get so angry," he muttered, tone regretful. Rus made a considering sound before getting up and crossing the room to kneel in front of Blue.  
  
"BLUE, I COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND WHY YOU GOT SO ANGRY. I THINK I WOULD BE QUITE ANGRY IF I WERE IN YOUR SHOES... AND IN FACT, I CANNOT HELP BUT BE UPSET AT SANS FOR HAVING A HAND IN HURTING AN INNOCENT MONSTER," Rus said with a sigh and a deep frown.  
  
"Mweh heh... At least it looked like Comic was rethinking his treatment of Sin, anyway. Don't be too harsh on him when he returns, okay? Sin isn't the kind of person to hold a grudge, so we should be willing to let it go if the offenders are willing to repent," the smaller said, smiling tightly.  
  
"WELL, I CERTAINLY CANNOT PROMISE TO BE SO QUICK TO LET THIS GO. WHAT IF THEY DO IT AGAIN TO SOME OTHER MONSTER? I HATE TO THINK THAT MY BROTHER WOULD DO SUCH A THING, BUT-"  
  
"don't. don't doubt him like that, rus," Sin's voice came tiredly from behind the door.  
  
"can we come in? Sin was pretty insistent on coming up here, and he's not exactly steady on his feet," Stretch called. Rus rushed to the door and pulled it open to admit the pair into the room. "thanks," Stretch said with a tight smile as he assisted Sin into the room.  
  
"PUT HIM ON MY COOL BED. YOU REALLY SHOULD NOT BE UP, SIN. YOU LOOK EXHAUSTED," Rus scolded, then glanced through the door. "WHERE IS YOUR BROTHER AND, UH... METTATON?"  
  
"downstairs. pink's a little unsettled by all this and metta's trying to get him calmed down," Sin replied softly as he was settled on the bed. He let out a soft, tired hum as he sunk gently into the mattress, but then he shook his head, forcing his sockets to stay open as he looked at Rus. "but seriously, rus. don't... doubt comic like that. he wasn't even the one to start all this. the first ones i met were honey, slim, and red. they were the ones who planted all that shit in every other sans' head... and fuck if we aren't a stubborn, short-sighted bunch. don't hold it against him. i don't. yeah, sure, it hurt, but i persevered."  
  
"wait, hold the phone. are you saying _Honey_ was one of the sources of everything you went through?" Stretch asked, shocked. He couldn't believe it. Yeah, Honey could be a surly asshole sometimes, but he wouldn't have thought it of him. Sin laughed softly.  
  
"yeah, you never met him before cherry and him were basically joined at the hip. he's calmed down a lot since fell and cherry moved in with him and berry," he replied with a weak shrug, voice becoming fainter the longer he talked.  
  
"GO TO SLEEP, SIN. I WILL... TRY NOT TO BE TOO ANGRY AT MY BROTHER WHEN HE RETURNS, BUT HE STILL MUST ANSWER FOR THIS," Rus said in a nearly sharp tone. Sin eyed him for a moment, noting the softening around Rus' sockets before nodding lightly, apparently satisfied by what he saw. He then let his sockets drift closed, falling asleep right away. The other three monsters in the room relaxed in relief before Papyrus turned to Blue. "BLUE, YOU ARE THE BETTER COOK OUT OF THE TWO OF US. I HATE TO ASK A GUEST TO DO IT, BUT WOULD YOU MIND MAKING DINNER FOR US? I WOULD LIKE TO BE UP HERE STILL WHEN SANS RETURNS," he requested.  
  
Blue paused for a moment, narrowing his sockets. He was certain he knew _exactly_ what the taller was doing, and it certainly wasn't shooing him off to cook so he could wait for Comic. Well, not completely, at least. Cooking was a relaxing ritual for both of them, and the best way to calm down completely when they were upset. He sighed, but stood, letting it go and heading out of the room. Cooking would help... and he could get Sin's brother (Pink?) involved to help settle his nerves, too.  
  
Rus sighed softly once Blue was gone from the room, sitting down heavily in his computer chair. None of this felt good. His unwavering faith in his brother had been badly shaken, but at least Sans seemed to have realized his error and was helping Edge find Red. He just sincerely hoped that things didn't turn violent. Especially not with Sans in the area, because he doubted Sans would willingly leave once they found Red.  
  
"hey, Rus... thanks for giving the kitchen over to Blue... but maybe you should head down there and join him. you look like you're about to start vibrating out of your chair," Stretch said from his place on the floor next to the bed. He looked almost like a lazy gargoyle when Rus looked over at him.  
  
"NORMALLY, I WOULD AGREE... BUT I DON'T THINK COOKING WOULD HELP RIGHT NOW. I WOULD PROBABLY BURN EVERYTHING," Rus replied with a weak laugh. "IT IS FRUSTRATING KNOWING SOMEONE WAS BEING SO BADLY HURT WHILE I WAS RIGHT IN THE NEXT ROOM... AND EVEN MORE SO KNOWING THAT MY BROTHER HAD A HAND IN IT!"  
  
"...I had a hand in it too, y'know. but if anyone can be convinced, it's Comic. he's a nice guy," Stretch said, then sighed. "but he's probably going to feel even more guilty than i do. he'll need your support, Papyrus. don't lose your faith in him, and don't doubt him."  
  
Rus jerked at the sound of his full name, but then fell still again, looking thoughtful. Stretch was right. This, while bad, shouldn't change anything. Sans had looked particularly ill at the realization that he'd hurt an innocent monster, and Rus knew that he'd be beating himself up over it for ages. Sans wasn't well, and this would be a bad blow. Thus, he'd need the assistance of the Great Papyrus to help him through this. Rus beamed at Stretch, who smiled back. "YOU ARE RIGHT, MY FRIEND. I WILL STILL BE HAVING A TALK WITH MY BROTHER, BUT I WILL BE GENTLE ABOUT IT. I HAVE NOT LOST FAITH IN HIM."  
  
"good," Stretch replied, smiling a bit more.


	10. Act 2: Chapter 4: Talk

Comic appeared with Edge in one of his favourite hiding locations, knowing it was Red's favourite, too. He looked up briefly at the shimmering fake stars in the small cavern. They seemed to go on forever with how they scrolled down the wall, giving the illusion of disappearing on a horizon. Red was there, standing in the middle and aiming an absolutely filthy look at Comic that sent a pang of hurt straight to his soul. He liked Red, but this... this was a side of the normally jovial monster he'd never seen before. This was beyond the normal stubbornness of being a Sans. He'd been able to tell from Sin's magic back in that clearing that there was way more to him than he'd thought.  
  
And then Blue's revelation had left nothing to the imagination. Sin was a monster that had been judged unfairly. He'd taken Honey's word for it, and now he felt like scum. Hell, he probably was scum. Who just takes someone's word at face value without actually seeing if it was the truth? Honey had lied and done so with such perfect acting that Comic had been suckered.  
  
But why, with the truth revealed, was Red still being so horrible?  
  
"Comic, you are shaking. Go home and let me deal with my brother. There is no reason for you to get involved right now," Edge's abnormally gentle and soft voice broke Comic from his spiralling thoughts, and he looked back and forth between Edge who looked calm as a cucumber and Red who looked like he was seconds away from throwing bone attacks at them and nodded. He could not handle a fight with his alternate right now, and Edge had clearly seen that. Being stubborn had only led to this mess in the first place.  
  
"c-call me if you need a pick-up," Comic whispered, and Edge nodded, patting him soothingly on the shoulder. Comic nodded shakily back, then teleported away. He wouldn't be surprised if he found that cavern was destroyed for this run.  
  
He appeared moments later back in his brother's room, only to find that instead of Rus sitting on the bed, Sin was sleeping on it and Stretch was sitting on guard on the floor next to the exhausted skeleton. Stretch shot him a tiny smile and motioned behind him, and when Comic turned to look over his shoulder, he found Rus sitting at the computer desk, watching him with a surprisingly blank look on his face. The sound of rattling bones filled the air and it took Comic a moment to realize the sound was coming from him.  
  
"BROTHER. COME, WE SHALL TALK ELSEWHERE. SIN NEEDS TO REST," Rus said, voice surprisingly calm. He'd expected to return to find Rus just as angry and disappointed as he'd been when he left, and he'd dreaded coming back, but... it seemed the universe had decided to go easy on him for once. Or perhaps it was Sin and Stretch who'd had a hand in that.  
  
Comic allowed himself to be gently guided from the room and down the hall to the guest room, not surprised when he heard the lock click shut. "SIT, BROTHER. YOU LOOK LIKE YOU ARE ABOUT TO FALL OVER," Rus suggested, taking a seat on the bed and patting the spot next to him. Comic sighed softly, moving to sit on the other end, perching gingerly on the edge. Rus looked almost sad at how much distance Comic had placed between them but he faced Comic head on, taking a deep, unneeded breath. "SANS, I WILL ADMIT RIGHT NOW THAT I AM HIGHLY DISAPPOINTED IN YOU. I AM NOT SURE WHY YOU WOULD HAVE DONE WHAT YOU DID... BUT IT DOES NOT MATTER NOW. I CAN SEE YOU FEEL TERRIBLE ABOUT IT, AND THAT IS ENOUGH. YOU WILL GIVE HIM A CHANCE, SHOULD HE DESIRE TO INTERACT WITH YOU, CORRECT?"  
  
Comic stared in surprise. He'd been sure Rus would have been laying into him like he did when Comic got exceptionally lazy, but for some reason, the taller skeleton was going easy on him. Slowly, he nodded in response to the question, earning a smile from Rus. "...dunno why he'd want to have anything to do with me, though," Comic murmured, and Rus frowned.  
  
"BROTHER, DO NOT JUMP TO CONCLUSIONS WITH HIM ANYMORE. SIN HAS ALREADY FORGIVEN YOU. I WAS READY TO LAY INTO YOU FAIRLY HARSHLY, BUT HE TALKED ME OUT OF IT BEFORE FALLING BACK TO SLEEP," Rus told him, once again surprising him and making him feel the weight of his crimes against the Underlust monster more severely.  
  
Why had he, as this universe's Judge, never noticed? Why had he never seen past the lies Honey had spun? He needed to speak with Honey privately sometime soon. Perhaps with Red backing him if Edge could get him to see reason. Speaking of Red, why was he still so adamant about believing Honey's lies? None of this made sense and Comic couldn't help but think that something was seriously wrong.  
  
"SANS, I CAN SEE THE GEARS TURNING IN THAT SKULL OF YOURS. WHAT'S WRONG?" Rus asked, startling the smaller skeleton.  
  
"it's just... now that it's been pointed out to me, i can see pretty clearly that honey lied his tailbone off about sin... but why didn't i notice before? i'm a great judge of character, and he's an open book. and not only that, red's acting bizarre, too. he's a good guy. i know he is. so why is he still so adamant about sin being the enemy? _why did honey lie in the first place?_ what purpose did it serve?!" Comic threw his hands in the air in frustration, getting up and pacing as if it would help. "i don't _get this!_ there was absolutely no reason to do what he did, and there's no reason any of us should have taken his word at face value!" He stopped, letting out a groan and rubbing his face with both hands. "i mean, i guess it helped that slim and red backed him up, and they knew sin first, but still!"  
  
Rus made a thoughtful sound, the gears of his own mind turning. "I AM CURIOUS, BROTHER... YOU SAID HONEY TOLD ALL THE LIES? AND SLIM AND RED JUST BACKED HIM UP? NO INDIVIDUAL TALES?"  
  
"...yeah, actually. now that i'm really thinking about it, that was the case. everything red said on his own was just parroting something honey had mentioned previously..." Comic replied slowly. "it's weird. i can't see why i didn't notice this previously. i don't understand..."  
  
"BROTHER... I, UH... YOU KNOW I REMEMBER GASTER NOW, CORRECT?" Rus asked gently.  
  
"well, yeah. i mean, you about gave me a heart attack when you first mentioned him. why?"  
  
"SANS! YOU DO NOT HAVE A HEART!"  
  
"you callin' me heartless, bro?" Comic asked with a snicker, and Rus groaned.  
  
"OH, NEVERMIND THAT! DO NOT DERAIL THE CONVERSATION WITH YOUR HORRID PUNS!" Rus snapped but then sighed. "THERE WAS SOMETHING THAT GASTER TOLD ME ABOUT... A PARTICULARLY INSIDUOUS BIT OF MAGIC THAT, IF ONE IS AWARE OF HOW TO USE IT, CAN BE USED TO INFLICT ONE'S WILL ON ANOTHER WITHOUT THEM BEING AWARE. BROTHER, MAY I SEE YOUR SOUL?"  
  
Comic visually paled, his bones starting to look chalky at the very thought. "you think honey might have..." he whispered, but instead of finishing, he let his soul materialize with a ping sound. Papyrus got up and knelt in front of Sans, examining the pale construct for a bit before shaking his skull.  
  
"IF YOU WERE BEING INFLUENCED, ALL TRACES OF THE MAGIC LIKELY VANISHED WHEN YOU REALIZED YOU WERE WRONG ABOUT SIN. THERE'S NO WAY TO PROVE IT RIGHT NOW," Papyrus said with a sigh.  
  
"...which means we can't say anything. you think red might be...?" Comic sounded almost hopeful, and Rus understood, knowing how much his brother loved Red.  
  
"I CANNOT SAY. WE WILL JUST HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL EDGE BRINGS RED BACK," he replied, speaking gently.


	11. Act 2: Chapter 5: Feral

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uh, i'd say enjoy, but... not only is this probably the shortest chapter by far, but i think this is where the pitchforks and torches start coming out. ::flees and hides::

Red snarled deep and low at Edge as he slowly approached the smaller skeleton. Edge had been angry before, but this was completely unlike his older brother. The monster he faced now was nearly feral, hunched in such a way that his hurt shoulder was protected as he tried to be menacing enough to drive Edge away with threatening sounds. Edge had no idea what was going on, but his instincts screamed to subdue and collect his brother as fast as possible.  
  
Despite the clear warning Red was giving him, Edge continued to approach though he quickly froze in place, tensing to dodge when five draconic skulls appeared in the air over Red's hunched body. "SANS. STOP THIS AT ONCE AND COME HERE," Edge ordered, using his brother's actual name to possibly snap him out of this. It didn't work.  
  
The blasters all fired, and Edge was forced to dodge as the massive beams tore up dirt and rock as well as frying echo flowers. The beams were just a distraction tactic though, as a wave of bone constructs caught the guardsman unawares, ramming into him with actual intent to harm behind them. Edge cried out in pain, stumbling back in shock. Red had actually hurt him, knocking a significant chunk of his HP off with the effects of the Judge's magic. Edge was only at LV 6, but that was apparently enough to kick the poisonous effect of the Judge's magic into high gear. However, to have done that much damage, Red would have needed to want to.  
  
But _why_? Edge didn't understand. Out of all the fell-verse pairs of brothers, he and Red got along the best. They were closest to the Alpha universe brothers in personality and had a relationship of mutual trust and respect. Certainly, Edge still yelled at Red to stop being so lazy, but that was normal of all the younger brothers to their elders. Thus, Red's killing intent hurt more than just physically. His soul pounded in his chest, pulsing with no small amount of fear and distress as he dodged another attack. Red was stronger than him and always had been. If he aimed to kill, Edge would be dust in short order if he couldn't escape.  
  
He didn't want to die. Gasping from pain and exertion, Edge dodged back, trying to make his way to the mouth of the cavern even as more HP was shaved off by multiple glancing blows. His back hit the wall, and he frantically looked from side to side to find the exit, taking another hard blow in the process. Sitting at a precarious 5 HP, Edge found the tunnel he needed and dodged his way to it, escaping into the mouth and fleeing as fast as he could.  
  
Red didn't give chase, apparently giving up the attack the moment Edge was out of sight around the bend in the tunnel. The sense of relief was brief, the shock of the situation making the tall skeleton feel rather empty. He welcomed the sensation as he collapsed against the wall of the tunnel. He hurt physically and his soul pulsed with pain as well, but he needed to keep himself together. Get somewhere safe where he could heal and then let himself fall apart...  
  
Wincing, he fished his phone out and dialled Comic's number.


	12. Act 2: Chapter 6: Discussion

Tense silence had fallen between the brothers, neither one really knowing what to do with the possible revelation. The thought was a terrifying one. Had Honey been influencing the elder brothers all this time? How much damage had he done to Red and Slim if they were indeed being controlled? Not to mention Berry, Fell, and Cherry, all of whom _lived_ with the guy.  
  
The pair were startled out of their deep, worrisome thoughts when Comic's cell went off, ringing loudly in the silence. Comic fumbled with the little device for a moment before managing to answer the call. "h-hello?"  
  
"...COMIC... I NEED THAT PICK UP AFTER ALL..." Edge wheezed on the other end of the line. "DON'T GO TO THE CAVERN. I'M IN THE TUNNEL JUST AROUND THE BEND," he added and Comic's browridge furrowed. Edge sounded like he was in pain. What had happened after he'd left the two of them?  
  
"okay. i'll be right there," Comic replied after a moment, then hung up the phone. The brothers shared a worried look as they both stood. "wait here, bro. i'm gonna bring edge straight back." Rus nodded, stepping back away from the bed, and then Comic vanished in a flash of teleportation magic.  
  
The small skeleton appeared in the tunnel just a few feet from Edge and was startled to see the tall skeleton slumped against the cavern wall. A quick Check revealed that he was hovering at 5 HP out of 600 and Comic felt his jaw drop. How? "edge... fuck, okay, let's get you back. we'll talk once we're home," Comic murmured, carefully taking the injured monster's arm, one of the few places that didn't look like he'd been hit hard enough to crack bone.  
  
"...THANK YOU..." Edge replied, voice fluctuating and weak with relief. Moments later, they were in the guest bedroom, Edge slumped against the wall the bed was pushed against and Sans kneeling on the bed next to him.  
  
"okay, edge, let's get you laying down, okay? this is probably gonna hurt a bit, and i'm sorry," Comic warned, climbing off the bed.  
  
"YOU ARE THE SECOND SANS TO GIVE ME THAT SORT OF WARNING TODAY... AND I DOUBT YOU HAVE THE WILL TO HARM ME ANY MORE THAN SIN DID," Edge responded, not even flinching as he was wrapped up in blue gravity magic. Being moved did hurt a bit, but no more than he was expecting given his injuries. Once he was laying prone on the bed, as comfortable as he was going to get on the soft surface, Rus moved into his line of sight, orange magic already smoking from his sockets as his hands lit up in bright emerald healing magic. Edge closed his sockets, relaxing into the soothing feeling of green washing over his bones.  
  
Once Rus had done as much as he was safely able to, he allowed his healing magic to taper off with a sigh. "THERE ISN'T MUCH MORE I CAN DO WITHOUT OVER FLOODING YOU WITH HEALING MAGIC..." Rus said regretfully, and Edge opened his sockets with a small, forced smile.  
  
"THAT IS FINE. YOU TOOK CARE OF THE WORST OF IT. I SHALL HEAL FINE ON MY OWN FROM HERE..." the scarred skeleton replied, sounding exhausted.  
  
"edge... what in the world happened after i left? did... did _red_ do that to you...? or was there someone else? and is red..." Comic asked, words nearly spilling over each other in the frantic rush of questions until Edge held up a hand, silencing him.  
  
"THAT WAS _NOT_ MY BROTHER. NOT REALLY, ANYWAY. THERE WAS NO WAY RED WOULD HAVE ACTED THAT WAY NORMALLY," Edge growled and Comic flinched.  
  
"fuck..." he muttered, and Rus didn't bother scolding him. For once, the curse word was the only one he could really think of that fit the situation as well. "we... paps and i have a working theory on what is going on... but it's not a good one..." Comic whispered. Edge made a 'go on' sound, and Comic stood from the end of the bed, pacing in agitation.  
  
"okay, so... you know how our treatment of sin makes absolutely no sense when you think about it, right?" he asked, and Edge let out a hum of acknowledgement. "honey, slim, and red met him first. this universe was actually the fifth addition to the sans convention. when i first met the three of them, and before sin showed up, they told me about sin... but red and slim? they never said anything honey hadn't already. i never even noticed. but the thing is, i believed them without question. i believed _honey_ without question."  
  
"STOP. I... THINK I KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON... THAT'S SOME RATHER DARK MAGIC, THOUGH. DO YOU REALLY THINK...?" Edge asked, horror in his voice. "BUT IT WOULD EXPLAIN HOW MY BROTHER WAS ACTING. RED MET HONEY A LONG TIME BEFORE EVEN SLIM JOINED IN. IF THE CONTROL HONEY HAS LAYERED INTO HIS SOUL WERE QUESTIONED... BUT THEN, HONEY WOULD HAVE HAD TO HAVE RENEWED THAT RECENTLY FOR RED TO..."  
  
"you seem to know more about this than pap does..." Comic said softly. Edge nodded.  
  
"I WOULD NOT BE SURPRISED. I ONLY KNOW SO MUCH BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT THE TYRANT USED TO SUBJUGATE AND CONTROL THE UNDERGROUND. THOSE ON THE OUTER FRINGES WERE NOT SO EASY TO KEEP UNDER HIS COMMAND, AND WHENEVER WE FOUND OUT ABOUT A 'ROYAL VISIT', MOST OF US TOOK TO FLEEING INTO THE FOREST ONCE WE REALIZED WHAT WAS GOING ON. THERE ARE WAYS TO PROTECT ONESELF, THOUGH. HAVING SOMEONE YOU TRUST LAYER ON THEIR OWN CONTROL WAS A GOOD WAY. I DID IT FOR UNDYNE AND SHE DID IT FOR ME IN RETURN." Edge paused, a look of dismay on his face. "IF I HAD DONE IT FOR MY BROTHER AS WELL... THIS WOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED..."  
  
"but there was no reason to, right? red was one of the monsters that dodged the king?" Comic asked.  
  
"THAT IS CORRECT," Edge replied voice softening.  
  
"nor was there any reason to suspect what honey was doing. we need to collect red as soon as possible... and set a trap for honey, berry, fell, and cherry. possibly slim as well, all things considering," Comic muttered, his pacing stopping. "we also need to inform everyone else of what honey's been up to. there's proof now, even if we don't have physical evidence," he growled, and both Papyruses arched a brow ridge at Comic.  
  
"I MUST ADMIT, I'M RATHER IMPRESSED, BROTHER. IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU ARE ACTUALLY MOTIVATED FOR ONCE. I ONLY WISH IT WERE UNDER BETTER CIRCUMSTANCES," Rus commented, and Comic chuckled slightly.  
  
"yeah. i'm gonna go get stretch, blue, and sin's bro. having more papyrus heads on board for figuring out this trap would be advisable," Comic replied, then left the room with a pop of teleportation magic.  
  
"...ALWAYS SO LAZY..." Rus muttered fondly. Edge laughed weakly in reply. He could certainly understand the sentiment, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and with that, Act 2 ends. Interlude 2 will be up tomorrow, and then i make you all wait again while i work on Act 3. haha


	13. Interlude 2: Honey

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...it's past midnight in a lot of places now, and i'm impatient. lmao
> 
> ::hums:: here's where ya pull the pitchforks and torches, guys. just please don't direct the mob at _me_. lmao

Honey jerked as he felt another one of his threads snap, a third wavering. Quickly, he gave the magic a mental tug, recognizing it as Red's. He was fighting and Honey fought the urge to scowl as he subdued Red, using his recently renewed magic to squash his pet back down. He refused to lose any more of his possessions, thus he needed to get to Red fast before someone figured out what was going on. He stood, smiling as his brother and his two fell-verse pets stood as well, Fell and Cherry mindlessly moving closer while Berry appeared not to notice. Their useless internal screaming and fighting against him made everything sweeter.  
  
"come on, you three. time to go visit our friends," he purred, grin widening as the three of them started acting normal, life returning to their features.

\--------------------------------------------

Honey and his pets appeared in the Alpha-verse and the master paused, humming. "alright. Berry, Fell, Cherry, you three are to go collect Comic as well as Stretch, if he's here. I want my friends back. I'm going to go get Red," he said. The other three skeletons nodded, Fell and Berry taking Cherry's arms before they went their separate ways.  
  
Honey followed Red's thread to a large cavern. It'd likely once been very pretty, but now it was torn up, deep gouges scored into the dirt and rock courtesy of the Gaster Blasters that still hovered over the panting skeleton under them. Red knelt, hunched over and growling lowly between panting breaths, exhausted but still defensive. "hey there, Red... it's me, Honey. you can calm down now," Honey purred soothingly. The effect was instant, Red slumping as the blasters vanished above him.  
  
He grinned sharply, moving over to Red's side. The fell monster's soul pulsed in terror under his heavy layer of control, but he ignored that, pulling Red close and kissing him, smiling into it as the smaller moaned softly, kissing back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yup. Honey's a scumbag. direct the mob at him, plz. he deserves it.
> 
> feel free to ask questions. i might actually be able to answer some of them now. haha
> 
> also, this is it until i've got Act 3 complete. please, _please_ mind any future tag edits. this is going down a very dark path, and i don't want to upset anyone. i'll be noting any triggery tags in the chapter summary of chapters where it gets dark, as well as making sure the worst of it all can be easily skipped for those that cannot handle certain things.


	14. Act 3: Chapter 1: Trap

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hm. it's been a bit. i wanted to make sure i had enough ahead that i could complete act 4 without making you guys wait too long, though.
> 
> so, uh, yeah. enjoy? maybe? i dunno, the quality seems to be dipping quite a bit and i don't know how we got here from first-time heat sex. lmao

Two solid knocks startled Alphys, making her jump and nearly knock over her cup of instant ramen. Pressing a hand to her chest in an attempt to still her heart, she stood and nervously went to her lab door. "H-hello?" she called through a slight gap in the steel.  
  
"alph, it's me and pap," Sans' voice called back, sounding unnaturally serious. "we need help," he added. Alphys let out a breath, trying to relax as she let the door swish open, stepping back to allow the two skeletons inside the building.  
  
"H-how c-c-c-can I h-help?" she asked. Sans sighed, looking uncomfortable.  
  
"okay, to make matters simple... we need a portable magic blocker," Sans replied quietly, but no less serious.  
  
"What?! Why would you need something like that?!" Alphys demanded, nervousness completely forgotten in the face of incredulity.  
  
"We need it to set a trap," Papyrus started, voice unnaturally quiet. "We found out someone we know has been using dangerous, dark magic to control our friends, Alphys. We need it to make sure we can capture them and help them without anyone being endangered," he explained and Alphys shivered at the implication in Papyrus' words.  
  
"That... o-okay. J-just... wait here a m-moment..." she whispered, horror in her tone at the mere suggestion of what Papyrus had said. Without waiting for a reply, she rushed off to collect the blocker.  
  
When she returned, Sans and Papyrus were huddled together, talking quietly, though they broke apart with relieved expressions upon seeing her carrying the tiny machine. "T-the range on this b-blocker is fairly s-small and w-won't penetrate any w-walls... is... is that o-okay?" she asked and Sans beamed at her.  
  
"that's perfect, alph. thank you," he said, taking the machine from her gently. "we'll return this as soon as everyone is safe," he promised and she nodded slowly.

\--------------------------------------------

"he'll probably come for the two of us. i just get that feeling," Comic muttered to Stretch as they sat together in the living room. Blue was upstairs in Rus' room with Sin, Pink, and Metta, though he'd protested when he heard the plan. Meanwhile, Rus was in the guest room with Edge, both of them waiting to spring their trap despite Edge's injuries.  
  
"I still don't like this," Stretch muttered back. "what if they go after Sin instead?"  
  
"he has blue and his own papyrus in there to protect him. i can't say anything about pink or metta, but blue's tough. even edge is wary of him and we know edge is tougher than fell. they'll have the element of surprise, and we can get the jump on them pretty quickly, too. we're all well prepared, stretch," Comic reassured and Stretch sighed.  
  
"fuck, I know. I still don't like this, though," he muttered in reply. Comic chuckled weakly.  
  
"yeah, i get that. i don't like this either. hell, i hate that we need to do this at all. this entire situation is some seriously fucked up bullshit," Comic replied, sagging into the couch, though it was clear that the small skeleton was incredibly tense.  
  
Stretch was about to reply when there was the crack of magic, three skeletons appearing in the living room. Sans and Stretch both jolted to their feet, the taller teleporting out of the room and before Berry, Cherry, or Fell could react, Sans jabbed the button on the magic blocker just as a cage of bones appeared around the trio. Cherry hissed angrily, tail lashing the air behind him as he and Fell both rammed the sturdy bars of their make-shift cage.  
  
"heh, got'cha. once we figured out what Honey had done, it was pretty simple to come up with a plan to catch you guys. a room based magic blocker and a couple people outside of the range of the blocker to provide the cage... of course, until we can free you three from Honey's control, we'll have to find a better way of keeping you, but..." Comic commented, pacing outside the cage.  
  
"tha hell ya talkin' 'bout?" Cherry growled, and Comic sighed.  
  
"you really have no idea, do you?" he asked, then turned to look at where Stretch stood next to Rus on the upstairs landing, eye blazing with magic. "one of you mind pulling out one of their souls? i'd do it, but i've got the blocker."  
  
"GOT IT, BROTHER," Rus chirped, though the enthusiasm sounded incredibly fake. He didn't like this any more than the rest of them. A ping sounded and Cherry let out an indignant squawking sound as his soul was pulled out into the open.  
  
"WH-WHAT IS THAT ON YOUR SOUL, CHERRY?" Berry asked, alarm colouring his tone. Fell and Cherry both stared at it in horror once Berry pointed it out. Instead of the bright scarlet of an Underfell Sans, Cherry's soul was smothered in a toxic-looking golden-orange colour.  
  
"i... what..." Cherry sputtered.  
  
"if we were to pull the rest of your souls, they would be smothered in the same magic. Honey did that. he's the only one with that colour of magic," Stretch said. He looked pale, his bones chalky at the idea that that magic had ever touched him. Sans didn't look much better.  
  
"I HAVE A QUESTION FOR YOU THREE," Edge's growling voice questioned, though he kept out of sight. "WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME HONEY AND MY BROTHER MET?"  
  
"UM." Berry's browridges were furrowed, the small skeleton looking confused and rather sick himself. All of them were, actually. With Cherry's soul hovering there in front of him, the evidence of what Honey had been doing was inescapable.  
  
"I NEED TO KNOW. RED ATTEMPTED TO DUST ME," Edge snarled while stepping out into view, making all three caged skeletons jump, gazes switching from Edge to Stretch to Comic, then back to Edge.  
  
"please... tell me that red's not actually someone who'd... who'd turn on family and friends like that..." Comic pleaded softly. Cherry frowned, turning a sharp-eyed stare at Comic.  
  
"...yesterday. he visited yesterday," Cherry uttered, his soul starting to lose the orange tint that had been smothering it. "i can't believe this. i actually liked that asshole and he..." Cherry snarled, looking less like the meek skeleton they'd first met and more like a wrathful Underfell monster. Fell levied his brother with an impressed look as the small monster curled his claws around the bars, pointed phalanges digging into and cracking bone. "i'm gonna kill him," Cherry growled, turning and snapping his teeth at Fell when the taller monster laid a light hand on the smaller Sans' shoulder.  
  
Fell, to his credit, did not back down, grinning sharply down at Cherry. "I'm impressed, brother. It's a shame it took something like this to get you to grow a spine, though," Fell said with a sharp, yet clearly false chuckle, hiding unease under amusement and fury. Cherry didn't back down right away, though, a low growl rumbling in his chest until the orange finally dissipated from his soul.  
  
The growl cut out and Cherry stumbled back slightly, back clanking against the wall of the cage as his eyelights contracted into horrified little pinpricks. "let him out!" Comic called out. The bars vanished behind him and Cherry stumbled free, nearly falling on his tailbone as he began shaking, only Comic's quick reflexes preventing him from hitting the ground. The bars reappeared, preventing Berry and Fell from leaving their makeshift cell, though neither of them complained, watching with wide sockets as Cherry began hyperventilating. "fuck... breath, cherry. tell me what's going on in that head of yours..." Comic said soothingly, petting Cherry's skull when the smaller skeleton clung to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ....i may have done very little editing here... i just wanna get this out, so i may come back later to fix it up more. i dunno. lmao


	15. Act 3: Chapter 2: Free

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, here we have a rather short chapter. sorry about that.

Cherry took a bit of time to calm down before he started speaking. "i... i don't know what it was like fer ya, but... after we moved in with honey and berry, i started getting really close ta honey. he... he was so _nice_ ta me. i guess i was suckered pretty heavily. boss caught honey renewing his control on berry and told me about it... i didn' want ta believe it... but boss told me ta confirm it fer myself... so we confronted honey about it." He paused, taking a deep, shuddering breath. "next thing i know, he's got his hands wrapped around mine and boss' souls, saying how it was a shame that he couldn't... couldn't play with us tha way he wanted ta." Cherry shivered and Comic pet his skull more, horror sinking deep into his soul.  
  
Had Honey ever touched his soul? He didn't remember it happening, but there had been a number of times they'd gone and gotten drunk or high together. If Honey had touched him like that, he'd never know.  
  
"I don't remember that..." Fell muttered, disconcerted.  
  
"probably because Honey's magic is still..." Comic replied just as quiet, shivering.  
  
"...he treated us like... like dolls. i didn' remember at first, but as long as we were indoors, unless he... wanted something of us, we were... i fought, but it was useless..." Cherry's voice broke, tears streaming from his sockets as he hid his face against Comic's shoulder.  
  
Fell was next to shake off Honey's control, a hand going to his forehead as his browridges furrowed. "That... son of a bitch..." Fell snarled, but there was little heat in his voice, what little there was being nearly covered up with horror. He was shaking almost too hard to remain standing.  
  
Berry suddenly lunged at Fell, but another wall of bones blocked his path and all attention shifted to looking around for Honey. They spotted him standing outside with Red, both of them scowling darkly at the lot of them through the window. It was very clear that Honey had realized his loss as with a sudden crack of magic, he and Red vanished.  
  
Not long after, Berry collapsed to the floor as if his strings had been cut, a broken sob catching in his throat as he curled up into a defensive ball.  
  
"l-let me... go ta him... please..." Cherry whispered, prying himself away from Comic. Comic let him go and nodded up to Stretch, who allowed Cherry inside the cage with Berry and Fell.  
  
Cherry quietly held Berry as he sobbed, the two of them sitting together as Berry cried himself to sleep, Cherry looking very much like he wanted to do the same thing. Watching them, Comic turned off the magic blocker, tucking the small machine away for later use before teleporting upstairs.  
  
"...this is bullshit," Comic whispered, though his tone was sharp. "how could Honey do shit like that?"  
  
"I do not know..." Edge murmured back.

\--------------------------------------------

The house settled into quiet, most of the skeletons inside exhausted, injured, or both. Edge sat apart from everyone else, staring out the window when Comic sat next to him. "WHAT IS IT?" Edge asked.  
  
Comic sighed. "...i saw red. he was with honey," he said quietly. Edge turned his attention to Comic. "i can't say anything regarding whether or not Red was controlled. he looked normal, but it's impossible to say when there's control magic involved. for now..." Comic paused, taking a shuddering breath, "we've decided to... to consider red an enemy until proven otherwise."  
  
Edge slumped slightly at the news. "I UNDERSTAND. UNTIL WE KNOW OTHERWISE, MY BROTHER IS NOT TO BE TRUSTED IF HE IS TO APPEAR. THOUGH IT WOULD BE APPRECIATED IF EVERY EFFORT WAS MADE TO CAPTURE HIM." Comic nodded slightly and the pair fell silent, simply sitting together in their collective misery.


	16. Act 3: Chapter 3: Plans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> another short chapter... but our protagonist is finally back in the game at least. lmao

Sin woke to a dark and near silent house, only the faint murmur of muffled conversation from monsters too riled up for sleep disturbing the silence. Feeling well rested but hungry, Sin pushed himself up and conjured a bone for light to find a handful of sleeping bags laid out on the floor. He spotted Cherry and Berry nestled together in a pair of bags that had been zipped together. The pair of them had dried tear tracks staining their faces and Sin could only wonder what had gone on while he'd been asleep.  
  
Another pair of zipped-together bags contained Pink and Metta, with the final pair sitting empty, so Sin decided that finding the former occupants was his best chance at finding out what was going on. Quietly, he slipped from Rus' bed and snuck out of the room. The living room downstairs was dimly lit by the TV, though it appeared to be muted, Stretch, Blue, Edge, and Rus sitting around the coffee table, talking quietly. Edge was heavily bandaged and Sin's sockets widened at the sight before he made his way down the stairs.  
  
"Sin!" Blue hissed, relief in his voice. "You're awake! How are you feeling?"  
  
"i'm a little hungry, but fine. what happened? why are cherry and berry conked out together looking like they fell asleep crying? and why are you covered in bandages, edge?" Sin asked quietly, worried.  
  
The other four monsters' expressions fell and Stretch sighed. "come sit, Sin," he suggested, motioning to an empty spot at the table. Sin canted his head curiously, but moved to sit. "you missed quite a bit today. for starters, we discovered something... pretty nasty. Honey's been using control magic on quite a number of us... including Berry."  
  
"...control magic...?" Sin questioned. The word 'control' already painted a pretty nasty picture, but he decided to ask anyway.  
  
"It's a particularly insidious bit of magic," Edge said, scowling. "It allows the user to smother their victim's soul under their magic, forcing them to behave in a manner of their choosing. It can be done in a way that the victim has no clue, making them believe that they are acting as they normally would." Edge paused, glancing up toward Rus' room. "But if the user is too heavy-handed, their victim will be left buried under the control and very much aware that they are a puppet. Honey was not kind to his brother, Cherry, or Fell."  
  
Sin's soul pulsed in horror at Edge's words and he glanced around the table, eyelights falling to rest on Stretch. "then... the reason you and all the other elder brothers...?"  
  
Stretch sighed. "I can't say one way or another about those that have not turned up yet, but it's... pretty likely, yeah. we set a trap for Berry, Cherry, and Fell and got them all free of Honey's control, but... Honey escaped with Red and there's no way to tell whether or not Red went willingly or not."  
  
"I do not believe he did," Edge growled but fell silent at Stretch's sharp look.  
  
"For now, we've decided to take an example from Edge and Red's universe and make use of that control magic on each other as a barrier against Honey," Blue stated, breaking the momentary silence. "Edge taught Cherry and Berry how to do it earlier and they've already guarded each other."  
  
Sin stared down at his hands, phalanges curled into fists around his pant legs. "why...? why is he doing this...?" he asked quietly, bitter. He almost wished Honey had just... taken control of him too, instead of having everyone go at him so mercilessly. Was this all a game to him? Was hurting other people like this fun? He had to know what he was doing, right?  
  
"We do not know," Rus said after everyone else fell silent. "I can't even begin to imagine why he would do such terrible things to people that are supposed to be his friends... or to people who love him," he added, voice so quiet that if not for the silence otherwise, he may not have been heard.  
  
The room fell into another tense silence, this one lasting a while before Sin sighed softly. "so... what are we to do?"  
  
"Firstly, no one goes anywhere alone. Groups of three or more, though that'll be easy with our current numbers. Every group carries a mini magic blocker as well. Comic is down in his lab reproducing the one Alphys leant us right now. If any group encounters any alternates, we stop them, make sure they are clean of Honey's control, and then make sure they stay that way after informing them of just what Honey's been up to," Edge replied.  
  
"We'll take each of Honey's pawns and make certain he has no one to fall back on," Blue chimed in, grinning.  
  
"Sadly, it is not the most solid plan, but it's all we have. Considering the nature of alternate universes, it's extremely difficult to plan any better than we have," Rus added with a sigh.  
  
Sin smiled, reaching out to pat Rus and then Edge gently on the shoulder. "all things considering, it's a great plan. papyri brains are great at this sort of thing. i'm glad you guys are in my corner," Sin commented with a soft, gentle chuckle. Rus and Edge both brightened at the praise and Sin sat back, beaming at them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sin asking all the right questions... shame no one has the answers.


	17. Act 3: Chapter 4: Ambush

Slim was angry because his master wanted him to be angry. Deep down inside, he screamed impotently, wanting to call out to his brother, but that wasn't important. That little slut, Lust had caused too much trouble, too many lost friends and that made his master angry and sad... and what made his master angry made Slim angry.  
  
Together, he, Master, Red and the last of their friends would go take back some of their lost friends. It would take work and Slim hated work, but he hated being lonely even more.  
  
~~He ignored the screams of _no, no! stop, you can't!_ that echoed from deep in his soul. Master didn't like it when it listened to the screams.~~  
  
They appeared in the strange alternate universe where the current multi-verse meeting was occurring, the small group assembling in an open clearing with stars glittering overhead. Slim had always loved the universes that had been dubbed 'Outertale'. The real stars were such a welcome sight, even if it was only a small, narrow glimpse of them from the bottom of a crater on the moon.  
  
"Slim." Master's voice jarred Slim from his thoughts and he stiffened involuntarily before turning to look. "I want you to scout ahead. pretend to be a new Papyrus and get in there to find out how many of them there are and if Lust is there, then report back," Master ordered and Slim nodded sharply before teleporting away.  
  
Slim appeared outside of Snowdin and started humming softly to himself as he walked, looking up at the stars. The residents were well used to strange skeleton monsters appearing and disappearing by this point and didn't even question him as he made his way to a familiar home. Slim knocked on the door and heard a loud ~~familiar~~ voice yell, "I'LL GET IT!"  
  
The door flew open to reveal _Razz_ standing in the doorway, a magic blocker already aimed at him and activated. A second monster was close behind, already trapping him in a cage of bone. ~~The suppressed voice deep in his soul cried out _m'lord!_ plaintively, happily.~~ He sent a pulse of alarm down the thread that connected him to his master, but before he could do much else, his soul was pulled from him with a soft 'ping' sound.  
  
"MUTT, LOOK AT YOUR SOUL AND TELL ME WHAT'S WRONG," Razz ordered and without even thinking about it, his eyelights moved from the smaller skeleton's face to his ~~wrong wrong _wrong_ , oh stars~~ soul. The normally burnt-umber colour was completely smothered by a sickening poisonous-looking yellow-orange, but Slim knew that. His master's magic on his soul was just how Master showed he cared. He wanted to keep Slim close. Slim was one of his favourites, after all. Red was the only other one Master showed this much love to.  
  
"there's nothing wrong with my soul," Slim intoned. ~~The voice, somehow more pressing and insistent screamed otherwise. Slim's browridges furrowed as he tried to shake it off.~~ Razz looked sick at Slim's declaration.  
  
"DOES HONEY HAVE YOU THAT DEEPLY CONTROLLED?!" Razz snapped angrily before suddenly reaching through the bars and grabbing his soul. Slim gasped in shock, reaching out to stop Razz, but the smaller monster was too quick, drawing back through the bars. Slim let out a terrified keening sound, hunching into himself even as the voice deep in his soul sent out a pulse of pleased contentment that Razz clearly felt. "IT SEEMS, BROTHER, THAT YOU ARE IN THERE SOMEWHERE," Razz hummed. "LOOK AT ME." Slim reluctantly looked up to see Razz gently holding his soul between both hands. The blocker had been passed off to Lust ~~Sin!~~ who didn't look too happy about something.  
  
"MUTT, YOU DO NOT BELONG WITH THAT TRASHBAG THAT DARES CALL HIMSELF A PAPYRUS. HONEY IS NOTHING BUT A BEAST WHO KNOWS NOTHING OF RESPECT. LOOK WHAT HE'S DONE TO YOU. IF HE CARED ONE IOTA, HE WOULDN'T HAVE DARED USE CONTROL MAGIC TO SQUASH THE REAL YOU DOWN LIKE THIS!" Razz hissed.  
  
"but... no! that's how master shows his affection!" Slim argued only for the two skeletons visible to him to blanch, bones looking chalky and horrified disgust on their features. ~~Deep down, he sobbed in despair at the disgust rolling off Razz.~~  
  
"...he has ya callin' him _master_ now?" a third voice asked, horrified. Slim's gaze shifted to see Cherry just peaking out from around the corner, visibly shuddering.  
  
"cherry! help me!" Slim cried out, hands wrapping around the bones that made up his make-shift cell. "master misses you! you have to come back!" Slim added but was surprised when Cherry shivered again, expression tight with fear.  
  
"n-never. oh stars, never," Cherry whimpered. "ya'll understand once yer free, slim, but ya need ta fight honey's control," he said, voice trembling. Another skeleton's hand landed on Cherry's shoulder, gently pulling him back, Cherry whimpering softly out of sight and Slim felt confused. Why would Cherry be _scared_ of Master? He didn't understand.  
  
"HONEY IS NO MONSTER, MUTT. HE'S A DEMON WHO'S USED FORBIDDEN MAGIC TO DO UNSPEAKABLE THINGS. WHO WILL DO FURTHER UNSPEAKABLE THINGS. I'M YOUR BROTHER, PAPYRUS. WHO DO YOU TRUST MORE? ME OR _HIM_?" Razz asked, tone surprisingly gentle. Slim let out a soft, confused sound, holding a hand to his head.  
  
"i-i..." he whimpered, shaking his head. Master loved him... but this was his _brother_. Why would Razz lie to him? Razz had only ever protected him in the past, had saved him when another monster had nearly dusted him. Had paid for healers and blackmailed them to make sure they kept their traps shut about the weakness the brothers harboured in each other.  
  
The answer was simple. Razz _wouldn't_ lie to him. Slim whined again, his other hand flying to his head as a pulse of agony ripped through his skull. Likewise, his soul felt like it was cracking before gentle healing magic wrapped around it, sending calming pulses through the magical construct. Slowly, Slim pried open his sockets, looking to see who the source of such gentle, kind magic was, only to be shocked at seeing Lust ~~_Sin,_ the voice supplied once again~~ with his hands hovering over his soul. Hands encased in green magic.  
  
"are you okay?" Lust (Sin) asked softly. "you looked like you were starting to have a panic attack," he added and Slim sunk to the floor with a low whine. Master was wrong. Sin was so very kind. Master... _Honey_ lied. He lied so easily. Did he even care about Slim? Did he care about any of them?  
  
Razz watched Slim as his expression shifted from close to panic to something more like resignation and then realization before tears began gathering in his sockets. "SIN. STOP FOR A MOMENT," he said, and Sin blinked before his magic flickered out. The disgusting magic caked on Slim's soul was much thinner, allowing his natural burnt-orange hue to shine through and Razz smiled, pleased. He allowed a pulse of approval and pride to touch Slim's soul, proud of his brother for fighting so well. "ALL RIGHT, YOU MAY CONTINUE," he said, and Sin smiled softly, green once again touching Slim's soul, keeping him calm and helping him fight.  
  
"MUTT, WHAT IS THAT BASTARD PLANNING?" Razz asked and Slim whined faintly, shaking his skull for a moment.  
  
"he... m-... honey's... planning to ambush the house... 'm supposed to be scouting ahead... but he probably figures i've been ambushed by now..." Slim whispered, shivering. He received another pulse of pleased approval for his effort, as well as another, stronger pulse of warm comfort from Sin's magic. He didn't even realize he'd gravitated towards them until a hand stroked his head, petting his skull soothingly.  
  
"YOU'VE DONE SO GOOD, BROTHER," Razz purred and Slim leaned into the contact with a happy, contented hum. This was what the voice inside him had been screaming for all this time.

\--------------------------------------------

No. No, no! Fuck no! Honey snarled as he felt a pulse of alarm, followed by the thread connecting him to Slim weakening. It wasn't completely gone yet, but he _refused_ to let another of his toys go that easily. He shouldn't have sent Slim alone, but he'd figured he'd layered on enough control that even if Razz had been there (which, from the smothered soul's reaction, he was), his control should not have been contested.  
  
Apparently he'd been wrong, though. Quickly, he tugged on the threads of all but one of his remaining pets, sending out a silent order for them to collect Slim and meet him and Red back at their hideout. The others all vanished in blips of teleportation magic, then Honey grabbed Red's arm, dragging the nearly lifeless skeleton back to the rift they'd come from.  
  
Less than an hour later, Honey was sent reeling as one by one, all the connections snapped, recoiling on him and leaving him with just one last soul.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, this is the end of Act 3. kinda shorter over all, i know, but hey. after this, we have Interlude 3... and then i'll be applying additional tag warnings. be careful, friends.


	18. Interlude 3: Kidnapped

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...you guys are going to hate me. i wasn't going to post this until Act 4 was entirely complete, buuuut... i'm impatient right now. haha

Sin let out a heavy, exhausted sigh as he slumped back into his bed. The day had been a long one, but how tired he was now had been utterly worth it. All of Honey's victims except Red were now free of control, though Honey and Red hadn't turned up at all. Slim hadn't put up any sort of physical fight, but things had taken a serious, nearly deadly turn when the remaining controlled monsters had shown up. At least, he hoped they were the last. Trapping that many monsters, a good deal of them skeletons that no one had even met before, had been extremely difficult when they'd been caught unaware like they had been. It had only been Slim completely breaking free of Honey's control and turning to their side that allowed them to actually succeed with no deaths, though there had been a number of injuries to heal in the aftermath.  
  
Now, all that was left was finding Honey and Red. That was an effort for another day, though. Sighing softly, Sin let his socketlids drift closed, falling asleep quickly.

\--------------------------------------------

Honey smirked as he slipped from the closet after he was sure the Underlust monster was fast asleep. Losing Slim on top of everyone else was a blow. It was bad enough that he'd lost his little brother and one of his favourite toys, but Lust had caused him a loss he'd never forgive the little toy for. It was more than time for him to get his revenge for the loss of his friends.  
  
Silently, he crept up to Lust's bedside, pulling a needle out of his pocket and uncapping it as he pulled Lust's soul out with a soft 'ping' sound. Lust's sockets flew open, instantly awake at the violation, but before he could so much as light his eyelights to look around, Honey plunged the needle into the softly glowing soul and depressed the plunger.  
  
Lust's body nearly instantly fell lax, his sockets closing as the drug forced him to sleep and Honey chuckled quietly. It would be so much easier to force his control on Lust when he was unconscious. Calling on a by now familiar magic, Honey attempted to smother Lust's soul in his magic, but his efforts were strongly rebuffed, a barrier of protective cyan magic shimmering momentarily into view. Honey growled as he realized that Blue must have shielded Lust's soul.  
  
No matter... There were other ways he could make Lust pay other than his initial idea. Smirking again, Honey released Lust's soul, letting it return to where it belonged before picking the limp monster up and teleporting away. He had a hideout and a toy to get back to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sooooo... how much murder does this scumbag have coming to him now? ::snorts::


	19. Act 4: Chapter 1: Fear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New tags added! Please, please look at them and decide if you wish to proceed! I warned a few chapters back that this was going to get much darker and that people would need to mind the tags, but I am warning once again, please be careful. I don't want anyone harmed by my writing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for those who missed the tag addition as well as my warning to read them, here they are again;  
>  _ **ACT 4 TAGS, Honey is a bag of dicks, artificial heat, non-con, rape, non-consensual bondage, blindfold, serious abuse**_

Sin came to with a soft groan. His entire body simultaneously ached and burned horribly, feeling almost like his heat had set in and been left for too long... but that was impossible. He wasn't due for another couple weeks... and besides that, the sensation wasn't quite right. His bones burned with need, but his soul wasn't quite at the same level. It felt more like that one time he'd been dosed and Pink had saved him before anything could happen.  
  
The musing thought forced him to come to the horrifying realization that he'd been drugged. He pried his sockets open at that only to be met with utter darkness. A blindfold? He tried to move his hands to remove it, only to find that they were securely bound. Tugging caused whatever was wrapped around his wrists to chafe and rub between his radius and ulna bones. Sin froze at the sensation, panic trying to set in as his thoughts raced. He'd been drugged, blindfolded, and bound. But who would do that? The last thing he remembered was going to bed after the stupidly long and dangerous day they'd had. Likewise, he knew Stretch and Blue had gone to bed while Pink and Metta had retired out to the shed that had been turned into a little apartment for the couple. And even if he hadn't been safe in his room, this was beyond any monster in the Underswap-verse he'd come to call home.  
  
Frankly, he was terrified. "...okay, whoever did this, you got me. perfectly horrible jape. you can let me go now, and i'll j-" A bony hand covered his mouth, cutting him off.  
  
"nah. this is no jape, _buddy_. honestly, I warned you ages ago, and now you've gone and somehow turned nearly all my friends against me... and after all the work that went into making certain they would all stay on my side. well, I guess I should just be glad I got to keep Red. he's not as sweet as Cherry was, but he's still a good replacement," Honey's voice sent shivers down Sin's spine, and he turned his skull towards the monster in pure terror. "come here, Red. look at the little slut. isn't that pretty little cunt a dream?" Cunt? Sin tried to close his legs tighter but instead found them pried wide open, someone's (Red's) hands holding his knees apart.  
  
"yeah. not as great as yer cock, though," Red's voice, absolutely devoid of any sort of tone or inflection came from around the area of his feet, and Sin somehow managed to bring his focus around to read Red's soul. What he found there drew a whimper of terror. With his vision cut off the way it was, he was able to redirect his magic to actually seeing the dematerialized souls in the room and he could clearly see that his alternate's soul was trying it's hardest to rebel, but a thick coat of toxic honey-gold magic was smothering him tightly. If there'd been any doubt before, there wasn't anymore. He was being controlled. Red's will didn't matter. He'd do whatever Honey wanted because he had absolutely zero choice.  
  
Anger quickly took over his fear and temporarily overpowered the drug coursing through him and he turned back to Honey, growling low in his throat as he called on his magic. Blindfold of not, if he could keep Honey's soul in his focus, he could kill him. A blaster tried to form over him, but with a short cry of pain and the pop of aborted magic, it fizzled out as Red's hand wrapped around his soul and squeezed far too tight.  
  
"naughty little slut. what do you think you're doing?" Honey asked. "and to think, I was planning on being nice to you, but I suppose I'll have to punish you now instead." There was the sound of boots clicking on some sort of flooring as Honey walked away, then returned. "give me that, Red, and take this. don't be gentle," he ordered. Sin felt his soul being passed to Honey, and then Red was shuffling closer, using one hand to press one of Sin's legs up and out. Something far too large pressed to the lips of his barely slick cunt, dragging up and down a bit before Honey snapped, "I said not to be gentle! this is a punishment!"  
  
Red let out a tiny sound, but then the toy was jammed in hard and fast, making Sin arch and scream in pain as his magic was forced to take the too big toy. His cunt couldn't even try to make things easier by producing more slick because of Honey's hold on his soul. Honey's sickening magic was seeping in, able to slip past Blue's protective barrier because he wasn't attempting to use control magic, simply using his intent to force his soul to ignore the pain of being stretched beyond what he could take. The toy was blissfully still after being rammed in like that, though, and he could feel Red's hand on his leg, shaking, his phalanges twitching and clacking quietly against his femur. Honey was getting angry at the lack of movement, and he growled. Red stilled for a moment, then adjusted his grip on the toy and started pistoning it in and out of Sin's cunt.  
  
It hurt so bad that the artificial heat couldn't force him to even remotely like it and he screamed, thrashing against his bonds in a desperate attempt to escape. Eventually, he faintly heard a cracking sound and a new pain joined the pain in his cunt. Moments later, all movement stopped. His pelvis ached from the rough treatment, but without the distraction of the toy moving inside him, the reason for the stop became clear. He'd struggled so hard that he'd managed to break his left ulna. He could feel the bed under him starting to dampen with a mix of marrow and magic and his arm _burned_. All he could do was let out a strangled, pained whimper, barely hearing Honey curse as he blacked out.

\--------------------------------------------

Sin awoke once again to the sound of someone struggling to stay quiet right above him. The heat from before didn't feel quite as bad, but his arm throbbed where he'd likely split the bone. He wanted to look, but the blindfold was still firmly in place. A quiet whimper above him, followed by Honey's voice ordering whoever it was to stay quiet had Sin narrowing his eyes as he focused. Red's soul was above him, pulsing with forcefully suppressed panic. He was down to two HP out of ten, and Sin fought to stay looking like he was unconscious and calm. Honey would be watching for any shift in his soul, and he couldn't let on that he was awake. Not yet, anyway. Honey's soul above was glowing with arousal, and from the movements above, he had to be fucking Red.  
  
Finally, Honey grunted and stilled, letting out a huff of air as Red let out a near silent whine, dropping his head to the pillow next to Sin's raised arm. Honey's soul moved away moments later, and then there was the sound of shuffling clothing, a zipper, and then boots clicking on the floor and away from them. "when he wakes up, you're to come get me, Red," he ordered, and then he was gone. Sin watched the monster's soul leaving until he could no longer follow it anymore. He waited a few more minutes before returning his attention to the trembling body above him. Red hadn't moved, possibly wasn't able to with how hard he was shaking. The layer of orange around his soul had thinned as well... that surely meant that Honey's control was no longer as tight, right? How long did they have before he noticed? Probably not long enough... but he needed to try and get through to Red while he had the chance, and so he decided to risk talking.  
  
"red?" he whispered. The monster over him jerked before starting to pull away in a stilted movement. "don't. please, just listen if you can." Red's movement stopped, his soul still pulsing with panic, though it calmed a little as he must have realized he could resist. "honey's controlling you, that much is very obvious. you need to fight it and go to stretch and blue. tell them what's going on before honey notices his control has slipped," he said frantically, but Red's trembling increased and he let out a low, mournful sound.  
  
"...i can't. stars, i wish i could, ya have no idea. this is the first time in a long time i've had any control and it's taking everything i have ta keep it... but even if that wasn't the case, he's collared me. magic restrictor so i can't run if i were ta slip his control. i'm sorry, sin," Red whispered back after a moment, leaning forward to rest his forehead on Sin's shoulder. "i'm sorry fer bein' so horrible ta ya fer so long... ya didn't deserve it. honey's a piece of trash and i would dust him in a heartbeat if i could."  
  
"...i can, as long as nothing's been done to my soul. feels like he's keeping it with him, though..." Sin let out a deep breath, shaking his head slightly. "i'll need a chance to catch him off guard, and i'll need my soul back, or at least not with him... which means you're going to have to pretend to still be fully under his command... he can't know that it's slipping..."  
  
"fuck, no, i can't do that! he's gonna make me hurt ya again!" Red hissed, and Sin nuzzled his skull gently.  
  
"you can, red. you haven't done anything wrong and we need a chance to escape. the best way is to make certain you remain at least semi-free... and it's just until he hands off my soul to you, which has to happen eventually. he thinks he's won. i can feel the smugness radiating from his soul... and what's he gonna do once he's satisfied with me?"  
  
Red shook, sobbing quietly. "i... fuck, he said that he's gonna make you suffer until you dust for ruining everything... he's... picked up a few things from dead or dying universes... you're not gonna come out of this unscathed, sin." The fell monster shook harder, pressing his skull more firmly against Sin's shoulder and Sin sighed, nuzzling Red again.  
  
"if you don't go get him soon, he's going to notice i'm awake and any chance of us making it out of here will fall to nothing, red. even if he's going to hurt me terribly, we need every chance we can get to get out... so _go_ ," Sin ordered in a soft voice. Red took a deep breath, then nodded slowly. There was no choice and they both knew it.  
  
Red took a moment to compose himself, then pulled away, Sin watching as he forced his storming emotions down so his soul only pulsed weakly behind the layer of orange. The orange looked stronger for it, and Sin heard the sound of bone rasping against bone as Red wiped away his own tears. "...i'm sorry... i really am," he murmured, then turned away. Sin stopped suppressing his own soul slowly, making it seem as if he was just waking up so that it seemed like Red was following orders. Honey's soul reacted with glee that sent shivers through Sin. He hated the fact that his soul was anywhere close to that beast's.  
  
Sin knew the exact moment Red made it to Honey, Honey's emotions lifted in sick pleasure, and then they were making their way closer again. When Honey entered the room with Red obediently on his heels, Sin aimed a sleepy scowl at Honey.  
  
"good morning, Lust. that was quite the show you put on last night. never expected you to be able to struggle hard enough to break your own arm. colour me impressed." Honey's voice was downright _chipper_ , and Sin shivered in disgusted horror. Honey was _happy_ he'd hurt himself. "seems like the drug wore off. shame, really. it's rather hard to get seeing as Gaster is gone in every universe i've ever been to, and only certain gasters even kept that sort of drug around. i mean, i could give you this drug i found in another underlust universe, but i'd really rather not have to have my pet fucking you to keep you alive long enough. no, i think i'll save that for your pathetic little brother," Honey said, and Sin gave a low growl of fury, jerking against his new bindings.  
  
"you touch him and i'll make _certain_ to find a way of making your death as painful as possible," Sin snarled, teeth pulled into a vicious scowl. Honey had the nerve to _laugh_ at that.  
  
"you can't do anything, buddy. not while i have your soul. hey, maybe i'll dose him and then force him to wait until he's desperate and mindless with heat, then let him fuck you. how's that sound?" he asked, cackling as Sin thrashed harder, injury completely forgotten in his fury. Honey was still laughing as he grabbed Sin's soul from wherever he'd stashed it and squeezed hard enough to make Sin seize and howl in pure agony. "i think that's enough of that, slut," he said, sounding far to amused as he crossed over to the bed and rammed a ring gag between Sin's teeth and clasping it to the blindfold's straps. "there, that's better," he commented smugly. "red. come over here and form a dick. you're going to fuck the slut's face. i'm sure he'll enjoy it," he cackled. Sin could only make angry, pained sounds through the gag as Red did as told, climbing up on the bed and straddling Sin's face. "don't be gentle, either. i want to hear him gag," Honey commented, clearly watching with sick amusement. Red did as ordered, shoving all the way into Sin's mouth with a single thrust, Sin barely having the time to summon a throat to guard the bone at the back of his skull. Red moaned as Sin's throat convulsed around his dick, starting up a quick tempo of thrusts and not giving Sin a chance to adjust to the intrusion.  
  
Sin choking and gagging every time Red thrust in was making Honey amused, but Sin could also feel the building arousal as the beast started rubbing his soul, the intent being to force him to form a cunt. Sin automatically resisted, but it was a lesson in futility as Honey just continued until Sin's magic was so stirred up that there was no choice but to comply, his cunt forming with a snap of magic. "heh, would'ja look at that. he really is getting off on having his throat fucked," Honey taunted, as if he hadn't just used Sin's own soul against him. Sin tried to force out an angry sound, but Red thrust forward in that moment, choking him once more.  
  
Sin thought that Honey was going to fuck him, but instead, the toy from before was pressed against his entrance, and though he was significantly more wet than he was last time, it still caused a surge of panic to jolt through him. He struggled, trying to escape, but Honey squeezed his soul making him scream around Red's dick. "hold still," Honey growled, then as soon as Sin's body stopped moving due to being in too much pain to continue, he shoved the toy in. Sin screamed again, though was quickly cut off by Red thrusting in and choking him. Sin could only struggle weakly, stars beginning to dot his blocked off vision as he fought to get enough air through the repeated choaking and the painful stretch of the toy in his cunt that Honey was thrusting in and out of him.  
  
Just when he was starting to think he couldn't take anymore, Red's thrusting lost its smooth movements. "fuck, i'm... please, i need ta cum..." Red moaned. The thrusting of the toy inside Sin's cunt stopped with it lodged deep inside him, Honey making an interested sound.  
  
"the slut's throat feel that good?" he asked, and Red moaned in response. "alright then. you can cum, but i want him choking on your cock when you do," Honey purred. Red's stuttering thrusts picked up in speed for a moment, and then he thrust deep with a relieved groan that pitched into a low keen as Sin choked on his dick, trying desperately to swallow to avoid nearly drowning in the cum spurting from Red. When he was done, he tried to pull back, but Honey pushed him back in, waiting until Sin's body went slack as he passed out from lack of air before letting him go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am so sorry. see you all tomorrow.


	20. Act 4: Chapter 2: Desperation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter warnings are tucked down in the end notes, if you got this far but feel you still need them.

Sin coughed weakly as he came to. His throat hurt so badly and apparently passing out hadn't made it dispell to fix the damage. Perhaps it was because of the fact that Honey still had his soul? He didn't know. He could pick up on Honey's smug glee though, as well as his pleasure and his desire to ruin the two Sanses he had under his power.  
  
The pleasure dimmed and he could feel his soul getting closer, and then he could see Honey's and Red's souls. The orange layer over Red's soul was just that tiniest bit thinner, though it wouldn't help. They'd still need to get Sin's soul from Honey and Sin didn't think that would be happening anytime soon. "welcome back, slut. enjoy that face fucking?" Honey asked, a grin obvious in his tone.  
  
"fuck you," Sin rasped weakly, voice strained.  
  
"nah. I got a better idea. Red, on your hands and knees over him. we're gonna continue what we were doing before he woke up, but I wanna see his face," Honey purred, and Sin let out a near silent whimper as Honey massaged his soul, forcing arousal on him once again.  
  
"...please... stop..." he tried, but Honey just laughed at him, his free hand fiddling with something as he forced a sopping wet pussy and an asshole to form between Sin's legs.  
  
"hm... don't want to completely break him this early..." Honey muttered. "Red, prep his ass for me while I get this set up," he ordered.  
  
Red made an affirmative sound, and Sin whimpered, reminding himself that it was pointless to beg Red to stop as his alternate moved back and slicked his fingers on Sin's own fluids. Red would already be feeling bad enough about all this, and Sin didn't want to compound that guilt. Besides that, Red prepping him would make whatever Honey planned easier to take. He just... had to persevere. He was good at that.  
  
And Red was at least gentle with him when Honey wasn't ordering him to be rough. He started with a single phalanx, though he quickly moved up to two, stretching his entrance out as quickly but as carefully as he could. The stimulation eventually pulled a reluctant, weak moan from Sin, and Sin noted Red's soul pulsing with relief at not hurting him further. Sin clamped down on the urge to send a reassuring pulse in return, simply letting the sensation of pleasure overtake him. It was easier to just give in at this point, after all.  
  
"hah, what a whore," Honey cackled, maliciously squeezing his soul. Sin cried out, voice breaking on the loud sound as the pleasure was drowned out by pain. "that's enough, Red. he's ready," the taller skeleton purred, and dread filled Sin as Red pulled away, returning to his position on his hands and knees, hovering over Sin.  
  
Sin heard the sound of something being dragged closer, and then the unfortunately familiar feel of the massive toy was being pressed to his cunt, though with how wet he was this time, and having been forced to take it twice before, it didn't hurt quite as bad. Still, it stretched him uncomfortably as Honey forced it in, hilting it inside him. He then forced Sin's hips up a little and Sin let out a nearly silent sound of terror as a second too-large toy was pressed against his ass. "it won't fit, oh stars, please," he begged, though Honey either didn't hear his nearly silent voice or he didn't care as he forced it in anyway. Sin felt like he was going to break, his pelvis straining against the two massive toys.  
  
But that wasn't the end of it. He heard the clicking of metal and felt the toys shifting a little as Honey did something. "this is probably going to hurt. a lot," Honey uttered gleefully, and then with a click, a machine hummed to life. The toys began sliding slowly from inside him, and Sin moaned in relief at the release of pressure. It felt good, but he knew it wouldn't last. The removal stopped with the heads still inside him, and then as one, they both rammed hard back inside him. The speed quickly picked up until Sin was silently screaming, voice already broken. He didn't even hear Red moan brokenly over top of him, too lost in the pain-pleasure of the machine brutally fucking him.

\--------------------------------------------

It felt like forever since he'd woken the first time in this accursed situation, and it probably had been an extended period of time because he'd never felt weaker than he did right at that moment. Honey hadn't fed him once, and his body and magic had been brutalized again and again with little reprieve.  
  
To make matters worse, the longer Honey kept his soul, the more disconnected he felt. His broken arm barely hurt any longer, and he couldn't speak, though he wasn't sure if that was the disconnect, or if it was just how low on magic he was. Either way, the magic that made up his voice was long broken.  
  
"...sin...?" Red's hesitant voice seemed loud in the room. Sin turned his head in Red's direction, barely able to pick up on Red's soul anymore, but it was still nice to know where his alternate was. He wanted to ask where Honey was, but there was no point in that. He knew the beast was only a few rooms away, his magic still desperate to know where his soul was. "honey told me ta feed ya. do ya think ya have the energy ta eat?"  
  
He didn't. He could barely shake his head, and Red let out a dismayed sound. "okay, okay... i'm gonna chew fer ya. all ya have to do is swallow. can ya do that at least?" he asked worriedly. Sin paused for a moment before slowly nodding. At least he hoped he could. He needed to eat, even if in this situation he just wanted to give up. He couldn't, though. Not with Red as trapped as he was with no method of escape on his own. Red let out a semi-relieved sound, and Sin could hear him chewing before teeth were pressed against his own in a mockery of a kiss so Red could push the food into his mouth.  
  
The magic in both the food and Red's saliva made his mouth tingle and he swallowed, having to do so three times before he could choke it down. The taste was horrible and nearly rancid, but even so, it strengthened him, bolstering his weakened magic every time he took a bit more in. "...sorry, i know it's terrible... but is it helping at least?" Red asked.  
  
"...yeah," Sin rasped weakly, and Red let out a relieved sound.  
  
"it really is helping," he said with a soft, half-hearted laugh. Sin smiled weakly, nodding. Even so, they continued with Red chewing for him, wanting Sin to be able to conserve his strength.  
  
Once the food was all gone, Red leaned back. "...i think honey is planning something horrible. he said we need to move soon, and taking ya along with us likely isn't feasible... i'm gonna try and steal yer soul and get it back for ya before he does what he's planning, but..." Red's voice shook as he spoke and Sin nudged him gently with his leg, trying to be reassuring even as he clamped down on his fear. "if i fail, just know that whatever happens... i'm sorry. i'm so sorry, sin. this isn't what i wanted..." Red broke on a sob, trembling.  
  
"hey... it's not your fault... i can see that pretty clearly... whatever happens, just know that you're forgiven," Sin rasped softly, and Red's shaking increased, the fanged skeleton slumping into Sin as he sobbed, and though Sin couldn't feel the tell-tale wetness of tears, the broken sounds Red made into his bare ribs was enough to tell just how much Honey had hurt Red. The magic of the Judge boiled under his own as he clamped down heavily on his emotions. Honey would pay. He'd find a way to make certain of that.

\--------------------------------------------

The magic of the Judge bolstered his own with the Justice-based magic's mantra of 'make him pay', and Red having somehow managed to convince Honey to keep him fed helped, too. Perhaps it was that he liked hearing Sin scream every time he did something new, but the terrible food came at least once a day, though Sin wasn't able to use it to track the time between being used as a living sex toy.  
  
It must have been at least two weeks later that Honey came storming in, anxiousness obvious under his sadistic glee. He was going to do something terrible and Sin knew it. Probably the worst he'd done yet.  
  
"Red, stop feeding him. we are running out of time, and as much fun as it's been, it's time to get rid of him," Honey uttered, amusement in his voice.  
  
Sin swallowed the last mouthful of food, turning his skull in Honey's direction to glare at him behind his blindfold. "what are you gonna do?" he asked, hoping he'd maybe get one chance at getting them out of there, but sure that Honey was going to just dust him.  
  
"interested, then?" Honey asked with a dark laugh. "come're, Red," he ordered, and Red obeyed instantly. "close your eyes and open your mouth wide. that's a good pet," he praised and moments later, there was the sound of Red choking, but Sin never heard it, his entire world narrowed in on a warm, wet pressure around his soul. It felt good in an alarming way, but at the same time, he felt Honey's influence finally, _finally_ part from his soul. He never heard Honey telling Red to swallow, but he felt the motion and choked on a moan.  
  
When the sensation finally passed, he turned his gaze to Red, who's soul was already glowing stronger with additional magic and Sin could hear Red's panicked mantra of 'oh fuck, oh fuck." He forced himself to calm down himself as panic started to bite at his own soul, which was leeching magic into Red, then sent a calming pulse to the other skeleton.  
  
"focus, red!" Sin snapped, and Red jolted, stumbling away from Honey in a hurry. Honey's soul flared with confusion that Sin could feel easily through his much-weakened control on Red, but he didn't get a chance to chase after the retreating skeleton as the whine of several blasters filled the air, all focused on the poisonous gold of Honey's soul. "i'd normally have a quip for you in this situation, but we don't have time for that now," Sin growled as he let the charging blasters fire, raining KR down on Honey's soul in waves.  
  
The beast didn't have much LOVE, but he had even less HP. With how desperate Sin was, it didn't take long for the constant wave of magic to wittle down the shocked Honey's HP. The beams cut out as Honey's soul cracked and shattered, but Sin feared he'd taken too long to dust him. His soul, a pure magical construct, was too easily eaten away at by Red's magic and he felt weaker than ever, the blasters above him fading to nothing as he slumped against the bed, sockets closing behind his blindfold.  
  
Before he lost consciousness, he sent a wave of comfort, gratefulness, and relief to Red, fully expecting to never wake again. He'd won against Honey, but it was too late.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Soul vore, death(?)
> 
> so, uh... how much are you guys gonna kill me if i tell ya that act 4 is only two chapters and that i don't have the next interlude written yet?
> 
> as another note, i'm calling for various torture methods for Honey. i have something... special... planned for him and want to know what you guys want done to him. :)


	21. Interlude 4: Search

Blue jerked awake in a cold sweat, though he wasn't quite sure what had woken him. Something... wasn't right, though, and he felt cold right down to his soul. Uneasily, he slipped out of bed and, hunching in on himself slightly, headed out of his room. First, he went to check on Papy, but just as he was opening the door to his brother's room to peek in, he heard the faint 'crack' of teleportation magic from Sin's room.  
  
Blue jerked harshly at the sound, inadvertently slamming Papy's door as he raced to Sin's room and flung the door open. It was empty, Sin nowhere to be seen. Still terribly uneasy and getting worried, Blue closed his sockets and reached for the thread that linked him to Sin, only getting a faint echo back for his troubles.  
  
"Blue? what's wrong?" Blue jumped and whirled around at the sound of Papy's worried, but groggy voice behind him.  
  
"Papy!" he gasped, reaching out to grasp his twin's arm. "Sin's missing and I can barely sense him!"  
  
"whoa, whoa, what?" Papy asked, sockets widening as he peered over Blue into Sin's empty room. Sure enough, it was empty and Papy's sockets narrowed. "I'm gonna call Alphys and the cats. get dressed and wait downstairs, okay, Bro?" he asked and Blue nodded.  
  
The next few hours flew by in a blur of activity. The cats, though not having the same kinds of noses as the dogs in other universes, were able to pick up a foreign scent in Sin's room. Something similar to Papy, but just off enough that Cattami and Cattaressa had both come out with their hackles raised, just shy of hissing, their pupils contracted to narrow slits even in the dim lighting. They told the trio of skeletons and single robot gathered in the livingroom that the scent concentration had been strongest in Sin's closet.  
  
Whoever had taken him had been laying in wait in the closet for hours. Blue, figuring he knew exactly who had gone after Sin, shuddered in horror. "...Papy..." he whispered, looking to his brother. For the first time in a long time, he once again actually felt like the younger sibling, feeling lost as to what to do. Papy took his hand and squeezed it, thanking the cats and Alphys for coming out.  
  
"Yeah. Not much we can do at the moment seeing as whoever this fucker is didn't leave his scent anywhere but Sin's room... but call me if there's anything I or the cats can do to assist," Alphys grumbled, not liking the feel of being helpless to do anything at the moment.  
  
"will do, Alphys," Papy replied, patting the lizard on her shoulder, then offering each of the cats a thankful cheek rub. The cats all purred out their appreciation for the affection, then filtered out of the house followed by Alphys. All of them cast one last look at the house, then vanished into the darkness.  
  
"...what are we going to do?" Pink asked quietly, finally speaking up from where Mettaton had him snuggled into his side.  
  
Papy sighed, rubbing the back of his skull in an agitated fashion. "not much we _can_ do right now. not until Blue can sense Sin again, anyway. for now, I suggest that we get as much sleep as we can. tomorrow, we'll start a hunt. we'll get as many of the others involved as possible, too. more people hunting, the more likely we are to find where Honey took Sin."

\--------------------------------------------

Two weeks had passed and Blue felt no closer to finding Sin than he had before. It had been determined that they were most likely looking for a "dead" universe, but there were far more of those than Blue had ever wanted to know about. It was eerie as hell poking around a universe where there'd once been life, but now stood painfully empty. Some were a more positive thing, the Underground having gone empty due to the barrier being gone, but that was a rare thing, and even more rare was it a situation where humans and monsters got along.  
  
Most often, the emptiness was due to an extinction event, the monsters having all died off, be it due to illness, mass murder, or the systematic loss of hope that resulted in everyone falling down or finding some other way of peacefully ending their lives. Sometimes, a stray, lonely Flowey or Temmie would pop up to greet them, though more often than not, even they would be dead and gone as well.  
  
This was a universe with a stray Flowey, obviously. The golden flower popped up in their path, though he looked nervous, shying back from them, fearful little eyes on Papy in specific. "H-h-h-hi..." the Flowey whispered.  
  
"Hello!" Blue greeted, Papy stepping back and letting Blue take the lead. It was clear to all of them that this Flowey had likely seen Honey. "I'm sorry to bother you, but have you seen a monster that looks like my brother?" he asked, even though the answer was an obvious yes.  
  
"...looks like?" Flowey asked, straightening a little and peering a bit closer at Papy before settling, looking less nervous as he turned his gaze to Blue. "I have. He tried to kill me when I attempted to help that poor skeleton he was with." Flowey motioned to the ragged petals on the left side of his face with an air of slight nerves. "Fired at me with a huge skull thing then disappeared with the other skeleton before I could recover. I haven't seen them since, though," Flowey told them, flinching back at the frowns on all three skulls in front of him.  
  
"how long ago was that?" Comic, who'd previously been holding back, asked. Flowey shook his head.  
  
"About a month ago, I think. It's kinda hard to keep track of time down here with everyone gone. Long enough that I've healed as much as I'm going to, though," the flower said, hunching down a little. "...you're gonna leave me alone now as well, aren't you?"  
  
"nah. you don't seem like the type that deserves to be left alone," Comic said, holding out his arm for Flowey to climb on. "we're from different universes, and while we can't take you to any of ours on a permanent basis, there's another dead universe where we've been taking guys like you when we find you. you'll be amongst other Floweys as well as Temmies," he explained. The flower looked between the three of them, Blue and Papy giving him reassuring smiles.  
  
"...okay," Flowey murmured, unrooting himself and coiling his way up Comic's arm, anchoring himself with a multitude of vines that coiled loosely around Comic's arm and torso. Comic looked faintly uncomfortable, but he bore it and stood up.  
  
"i'll take Flowey to his new home if there's a rift here for it and meet you two back at your place?" he asked.  
  
"...okay," Blue responded reluctantly. He wanted to keep looking, but both Papy and Comic looked kinda tired, the constant rift hopping wearing on them.

\--------------------------------------------

Blue, as usual, jerked awake from a dead sleep, residual terror from his barely-there connection to Sin leaving him shaking and sweating heavily. It was nearly a full month since Sin had been stolen from his room in the dead of night, and it felt like they were no closer to finding him. Blue bit back a distressed sob, crawling out of the nest of blankets he was coiled up in just as a knock sounded at the door. "Bro? you up yet?" Papy's voice called.  
  
"Y-yeah," Blue replied, casting a glance back at the mess he was leaving behind him. Normally he'd have liked to clean everything up and put it away, but no one was around to see the mess. No one would ever be back here to see it, either, considering this was yet another dead universe. He left the mess of bedding and exited his temporary room. They had to find Sin before it was too late. Surely, he wouldn't last much longer in Honey's clutches. Or worse, his protection would finally fade and Sin would be vulnerable to Honey's control magic.  
  
Comic and Papy were already waiting when Blue stepped out into the hall. Comic looked tired, but alert, given he'd taken last watch. "Ready to go?" Blue asked quietly. The other two nodded, Papy holding out his hands to the two Sanses to teleport to the nearest rifts.  
  
Three universes later, they came out in another dead universe, this one feeling like the extinction event had been a violent one. Dust choked the still, stagnant air and Blue pulled his bandanna over his mouth and nose, not wanting to breathe it in directly. It felt _wrong_. Likewise, Comic and Papy were pulling their sweaters over their lower faces.  
  
"anything?" Papy asked, his voice muffled by the thick, dark-orange fabric.  
  
Blue closed his eyes, focusing hard on the weak thread that connected him to Sin. There was a pulse of _something_ in return to his tug on the thread before it finally snapped. Still, it was enough. Blue's eyes snapped open, eyelights morphing to excited stars. "He's here! We found him!" he cried, but then slumped. "We're gonna have to tear the underground apart, though. I lost the connection," he said, and Comic patted him on the shoulder.  
  
"just be glad that we located the right universe before you lost the connection," the alpha Sans said soothingly. Blue perked up a bit and nodded as Papy shot him a reassuring smile.  
  
"welp, I guess we have some hunting to do. should we split up?" Papy asked. Blue shook his head, though.  
  
"No. Remember what Red did to Edge? Better if we stay together so we can't be ambushed should Honey figure out we're here," Blue stated. The other two nodded, then they all turned and stated walking, prepared to tear this dead world apart bit by bit to find their missing friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for those wondering, Rus is with Undyne back in Comic's universe (extended sleepover!) while Pink and Metta stayed home to watch the fort, such as it is.
> 
> Blue's lost connection to Sin has nothing to do with the soul vore... it had just been an extended amount of time and that magic needs consistent renewal. it finally gave up the ghost just as Blue picked up Sin's general location. they know which way they need to travel, though. and now Honey's rush to get rid of Sin is explained.
> 
> question is... will they get there on time?
> 
> only i know but i don't know how long you guys'll be waiting. i have nothing written from this point on.


	22. Act 5: Chapter 1: Safe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm so sorry this took so long. reason why is at the bottom.

Comic, Blue, and Stretch snuck through the halls of the abandoned lab, noting signs of life in an underground that was otherwise devoid of such. This was a universe that had succumb to an extinction event long ago... but it was being used for something much more sinister now. Honey and Red were here and they had Sin.  
  
"come on, please, please, ya _can't_. not now! sin, we won! ya beat him!" Desperation filled a broken voice that sounded strangely like Red's. The trio looked at each other, then snuck closer until they could peek into the room Red's voice was coming from. Red and Sin were both naked except a bulky collar around Red's neck and the bindings holding Sin to the bed in the room. There were all sorts of contraptions around the room, but their eyelights were fixed on what Red was holding.  
  
Weak sputters of green magic flickered at a dim soul cupped in Red's hands, a narrow crack splitting the surface which Red seemed to be trying desperately to heal. Blue's eyes narrowed on Red's soul, which glowed bright in his chest with excess magic that had no real outlet.  
  
Meanwhile, Stretch took in the dust on the floor, some of it clinging to a garish orange hoodie and black shorts. Honey. Sin's body was limp and unresponsive, and Stretch nudged Comic and Blue. "Comic, you get the key to that collar, I'll go get the bindings off Sin," he paused, motioning to Red, "and Blue, you help heal Sin. whatever happened, he's going to dust at this rate," Stretch hissed. Comic and Blue nodded sharply and then advanced calmly into the room. Red jerked with a terrified sound, curling protectively around Sin's soul as Blue approached.  
  
"Shh, it's okay, Red. I'm not sure what happened, but you need help saving him, right?" Blue asked, tone soothing. Red aimed wide, black sockets at him, but he slowly nodded, reluctantly offering Sin's weak, damaged soul. However, Blue didn't take it, merely hovering his hands over and letting his own healing magic touch the soul. It responded to the familiar magic, the crack starting to close as it glowed a bit brighter.  
  
Distracted by Blue, Red never noticed Stretch approaching Sin's limp body or Comic poking around Honey's clothing for the key to the collar, nor did he notice the slightly shorter Sans coming up behind him. He did, however, notice when the key slipped into the lock. The collar came undone with a click and fell from his neck and the suddenness of having full access to his magic after so long had green magic flaring up in his hands like bright, soothing fire surrounding Sin's weakened soul.  
  
Sin jerked on the bed in reaction, coming awake with a sharp gasp followed by whimpering softly and pulling at his restraints. "Looks like, um... you have this, Red," Blue commented with a soft laugh, pulling his hands away and meeting Red's shocked look with a calm one of his own before turning to look at Comic. "Stay with him. I'll help Papy get Sin free," he said and Comic nodded, watching with a saddened expression as Sin's blindfolded face snapped towards him.  
  
"...blue...?" Sin questioned, voice trembling.  
  
"That's right, Sin! Papy, Comic, and I came to rescue you from Honey and Red, but... it looks like you managed just fine on your own... and that we were right about Red after all..." Blue replied, casting a quick glance at Red, who was trying to tame his wild magic to focus entirely on the soul cradled delicately in his hands. Red seemed to have not heard him, so he stepped over to the bed, ignoring the way Sin flinched at his and Papy's touches before helping to undo the complicated harness that held the blindfold on.  
  
Once it was off, Sin blinked heavily, eye lights hazed out and likely unable to see well, be it from the unknown damage his soul had taken or just having had the blindfold on for so long, Blue didn't know. "....my soul... i..."  
  
"Red has it. I'm not sure what's going on exactly, but it was really dim when we got here," Blue replied, refraining from mentioning the crack.  
  
"that's not it. he needs it back," Red whispered from the floor. With assistance from Comic, he shifted carefully to his knees and then to his feet, all without halting the magic pouring into Sin's soul. "honey had it fer nearly the entire time ta make sure sin couldn't using his magic..."  
  
"how'd you get it back from him?" Comic asked, eyeing the two fragile monsters carefully. He wasn't expecting Red to break into hysterical, broken laughter.  
  
"i think honey forced red to... to eat my soul... though without him stopping me from using my magic, i managed to dust him..." Sin whispered, glancing in Red's direction. The monster in question quieted, stumbling closer in order to hold Sin's soul out for him. The magical organ was still dim, but the crack was entirely gone and the soul jumped from his hands, Sin letting out a relieved sound as it sunk back into his chest where it belonged.  
  
"Oh, stars, that..." Blue hissed, looking between the two former captives with a horrified look on his face. Red just stared at the ground, hugging himself and looking lost.  
  
A hand on his shoulder made the sharp-toothed monster gasp and jerk away, widened sockets fixing on Comic, who'd inadvertently snuck up behind him. "s-shit... don' do that," Red tried to snap, but his voice was shaking too much to sound at all threatening.  
  
"sorry, sorry... i didn't mean to scare you," Comic murmured, holding up his hands in a placating gesture, then opening his arms, silently offering a hug. Red waffled for a moment, glancing as Sin who offered him a shaky smile and a nod before he stepped closer to Comic, letting the other Sans wrap him in a loose, gentle hug, a low purr escaping him as Comic soothingly stroked his skull.  
  
Meanwhile, Blue and Stretch got the rest of the bindings off Sin and helped him sit up before Stretch yanked off his hoodie and helped the smaller monster slip it on. The hoodie was huge on him, and when Sin stood up with help from Blue, it hung down to his knees. Sin didn't mind though, simply happy to be covered up for the first time in who knows how long.  
  
Sin's still slightly hazy eyelights shifted to Red, said skeleton flinching as he felt Sin's gaze, though instead of acknowledging the attention, he buried his face in Comic's shoulder, doing his level best to ignore everything but the attention Comic was paying to him. Sin sighed softly, letting Red avoid him for the time being. They'd been through enough together, and arguably, it may have been worse for Red because he'd had some control of himself and Sin had encouraged him to act like he was still under Honey's control.  
  
Sure, they couldn't have escaped if he hadn't, and he absolutely would have died had Red blown it, but it still wouldn't have been easy to do the things Honey ordered him to. For now, he'd give Red some space. Comic had things covered on the comforting front, anyway. Maybe later, they could have a proper talk, fully clothed and in a safe space.  
  
...speaking of clothing... Sin wondered if Red's clothing was intact somewhere in the building. Without a word, he pulled away from Blue and stumbled closer to the door, his legs nearly giving out on him. "Whoa! Sin, what?" Blue asked, catching him before he fell.  
  
"s-sorry... i just... want to see if i can find red's things for him..." Sin said quietly. Blue's gaze shifted over to Red and Comic, both of whom seemed to be tuning everything else out while Comic murmured to Red, then he looked back to Sin.  
  
"Okay. Let's do that, then. It should be safe enough here, now that Honey's gone," Blue said softly.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> no one _really_ thought i'd kill Sin, right? i was tempted to do it, but i couldn't. i'm probably pretty predictable. lmao
> 
> on that note, we are nearing the end. i had thought this would be the final act... but i figured it'd have 3-5 chapters at least... but hey, the muses have decided otherwise. i really did try to get more length out of this, plotting out where i wanted to go, but... i know better than to push these assholes when they've decided something. lmao


	23. Act 5: Chapter 2: Home

Sin actually grinned, feeling triumphant as, with Blue and Stretch assisting him, he found Red's clothing. He bundled the sweater and pants into the jacket, then picked up Red's socks and shoes before allowing the brothers to guide him back to the room he'd been held in for so long. Comic and Red were sitting against the wall furthest from the bed, Red somehow curled up in Comic's lap, purring weakly as he dozed against the alpha-verse Sans.  
  
Despite everything, Sin found himself smiling slightly at the sight before he broke away from Blue and Stretch to stumble, exhausted, over to the seated pair. He let himself sink to his knees next to them and set down the shoes before setting the bundle of clothing on Red's femurs. Red jerked awake at the touch and blinked owlishly at the dark jacket. "i found your clothes for you," Sin stated, speaking softly.  
  
Red's gaze still jerked up to Sin, eyelights shrinking to tiny pinpricks. "f-fuck... sin, ya should be restin', not... looking fer my shit fer me... what th' hell, ya should hate me fer ever-" Sin cut him off, sockets narrowing as he pressed a phalanx to Red's teeth.  
  
"how could i hate you for doing what i told you to? for doing what we needed to do to increase our odds of making it out alive? if anyone should have reason to hate anyone, it should be you hating me. i forced you to obey honey, even though that had to be the hardest thing in the multiverse for you to do." Sin paused, voice wavering for a moment before he steadied himself. "you didn't do anything wrong," he said firmly before his eyelights flickered. Red's sockets widened, reaching out with blue magic as Sin swayed, sockets darkening as he passed out.  
  
Blue and Stretch, who'd been standing back to give them their space, finally approached, Stretch scooping Sin up easily. "hey, so... as much as I'm positive there needs to be a lot of talking... and likely a shit ton of therapy in the future... this place is fucking creepy. Red, you should get dressed and then we can all go home," Stretch said, but Red's sockets went dark at the word home and he shivered, bones rattling.  
  
"i... i can't... not without boss there..." the fanged Sans whispered, the words almost drowned out by the rattling of his bones, tears gathering in his sockets as he was reminded of just how much he'd hurt his brother. Sure, he hadn't been in control, Honey's programming having rendered him little more than a feral beast, but... there was no way Boss had survived all that damage.  
  
The gentle clack of teeth against his skull snapped him out of his thoughts, Comic's arms around him tightening as his soul sent a pulse of comforting warmth straight to Red's. "Edge is fine, Red," Blue said before Comic could. "Your brother's really tough, and smart to boot. He got away before he could be dusted and called Comic for help. He's waiting with Rus, Pink, and Metta right now and he really wants you to come home safe."  
  
Red broke out into proper tears at that, ribs hitching as he curled in on himself, though the tears were obviously in relief, a formerly imperceptible tenseness leaving him at the news that his brother was alive and well.  
  
Once he'd cried himself out, he shakily climbed to his feet, holding the bundle of clothing tight to his ribcage for a moment before unfurling it all and gratefully slipping back into the warm fabric. Once he was completely dressed and his feet were jammed into his shoes, he took a deep, shuddering breath before offering the others a watery grin. "okay. let's go home."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and that's it. there's... more than room for a sequel, and fuck, i really did want this to go longer, but i'm at the mercy of my muses, as i said last chapter. they get to go _home_ , though. i don't know whether i'll write their actual homecoming as an appendix chapter or if it'll be part of a sequel... but i'm sure that'll get written eventually.
> 
> thank you all so much for following me on this. all the wonderful comments really kept me going. this is the longest fic i've written and completed and damn if it doesn't feel good. *o*


End file.
